2010 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: larry@schnapflaw.com
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:43:52 -0800 (PST)
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: Re: [CPEO-BIF] Proposals for EPA's March 17 listening session
 
I agree. $3K will not kill most deals. Otherwise, you and Lee wouldnt have jobs :) 
 
This would allow the "true" environmental professionals to be able to provide the services that clients need and prevent the charlatans that misquarade as EPs from continuing to undermine the industry. I really do loathe the phase 1 commodity shops even though I make a living correcting their mistakes......
 
Larry
 
Law Office of Lawrence Schnapf
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www.schnapflaw.com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Trilling, Barry [mailto:BTrilling@wiggin.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 09:46 PM
To: 'LSchnapf@aol.com', petestrauss1@comcast.net
Cc: brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
Subject: Re: [CPEO-BIF] Proposals for EPA's March 17 listening session

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Our lawyer colleague Lee Hoffman at Hartford's Pullman & Comley suggests we simplify the process and solve the problem by setting a minimum fee for Phase I assessments, say $3000.  That would likely level the playing field and weed out the least competent.  If what we think of as the "high priced spread" costs no more than the otherwise cheap vegetable oil substitute, who would choose the lower quality option?  :You could set the floor by regulation with a semi-annual adjustment based on the consumer price index or establish some other metric, perhaps a percentage or multiple of the tax assessment value of the property to be assessed.  The important point is to prevent exclusion of the most qualified EPs.  Food for thought.

 

Barry J. Trilling

 W I G G I N  A N D  D A N A

 

From: LSchnapf@aol.com [mailto:LSchnapf@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 8:53 PM
To: petestrauss1@comcast.net; Trilling, Barry
Cc: brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
Subject: Re: [CPEO-BIF] Proposals for EPA's March 17 listening session

 

Peter,

 

I think Jerry is right on. If you say it is not rocket science and only requires "records or superficial evidence" then that is what will the clients will think and that is what you will get. There are too many home inspectors, unemployed architects and mortgage brokers who are passing the time as EPs.

 

What is needed is higher entrance barriers to raise the quality of the work that is being done. There are firms out there that are nothing more than a bunch of independent contractors who fill out a template and then attach 100 pages of data base records to make the report look comprehensive.

 

I reviewed about 10,000 phase 1 reports in the past decade (which I affectionately call the "Henny Youngman" era when banks were saying "take my money") and you would not believe the characters that tried to pass themselves off as EPs. So long as clients are willing to pay for those low-ball prices, we will continue to commodity shops.

 

at least lawyers and engineers have exams they have to pass that require minimal skills. The EPs have no such requirements.

 

worse, the site inspections and reports can be performed by persons who are not EPs so long as they are "supervised" (usually remotely") by an EP. The current system is a joke. Talented individuals at real engineering firms cannot compete with the Phase 1 factories. 

 

One of the reasons we had a sub-prime mortgage debacle was that anyone could be a mortgage broker and we had lots of incompetent or unethical persons conning unsophisticated borrowers to do loans they could not afford. The EP world is fast descending to the depths of the mortgage business.

 

Larry     

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