EPA’s Proposed "All Appropriate Inquiries" Rule Imposes New Duties on Environmental Professionals and Their Clients

EPA’s proposed “All Appropriate Inquiries” rule, if adopted as proposed and if fully embraced by the market, could create significant changes in customary practice for pre-acquisition environmental due diligence. In addition to codifying the steps that must be followed to qualify for new federal liability protections, the proposal would impose new duties on the “users” of environmental site assessments who seek such protections. The proposal would create a highly collaborative process that would call upon environmental professionals, their clients, and their legal and real estate advisors to clarify their respective roles early in transactions, and to exercise a heightened degree of scrutiny.

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