An Environmental Consultant Firm

Triterra – An Environmental Consultant Firm

As an environmental consultant firm, Triterra's educated and experienced professionals possess a deep knowledge of the environment. Our services are available to assist private and public sector clients in identifying and implementing thoughtful, practical solutions to environmental challenges.

Triterra's environmental consultants work for multiple clients providing environmental expertise that they either do not possess "in-house" or special expertise that supplements their own. Also, we are often retained to provide independent, third party evaluations. Our unique value lies in the expertise, experience and knowledge of our professionals. We understand local, state, and federal environmental regulations and are educated in relevant disciplines, including geology, hydrology, natural resource management, fisheries and wildlife, chemistry, and environmental science.

Real Estate Services

Developing, owning, maintaining, and financing commercial real estate requires input from many different professionals. Our environmental consultant firm is often retained to evaluate, quantify, and minimize the potential for risk from existing environmental conditions when our clients are acquiring or financing commercial real estate. Environmental issues can limit potential uses of real estate lowering its value. They can also be costly to fix. Therefore, it is important to know whether or not environmental issues exist on a property and that those issues be properly considered as part of the overall due diligence process.

Our approach to environmental due diligence is a well developed process that combines industry best practices with our extensive experience and consideration of deal specific requirements (i.e., lending institution policies, SBA procedures, time constraints, need for confidentiality, etc.). We understand that no two deals are the same and each parcel of real estate has its own unique history.

Our initial consultation with a client consists of completing a checklist/questionnaire to ensure that whatever readily available information about the property is considered prior to recommending a scope-of-work. We also try to learn as much as possible about our client’s specific needs and their intended use of the property.

Our process involves defining the potential for environmental risks and identifying solutions to minimize potential liability and risk.

The first step in the process is generally a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) in accordance with the ASTM E1527-00 standard. This standard meets federal All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) rules that establish an “innocent landowner” status. Depending on the nature of the transaction, other less exhaustive and costly evaluation methods are sometimes appropriate. These alternatives include Environmental Questionnaires, Records Searches with Risk Assessments, and Transaction Screens.

Any of these levels of due diligence may be sufficient to determine whether or not there are concerns depending on the specifics of the property and the client’s tolerance for risk. When concerns are identified and additional investigation is warranted, a Phase II ESA will be proposed. The Phase II ESA usually involves intrusive sampling of soil and/or groundwater to evaluate whether or not risks identified by the initial due diligence have resulted in the presence of contamination.

If contamination is identified, Triterra will communicate the significance of the finding and identify strategies to minimize the potential for risk and/or liability. Strategies will vary from state to state depending on applicable regulations. For instance, in Michigan, buyers of contaminated property are able to complete a Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) process that limits their liability for existing contamination provided that they exercise “Due Care” in their future use of the property. Other circumstances may require that remediation or other corrective action be taken. It may be appropriate to pursue indemnification from the seller or through an insurance policy, complete remediation, or pursue a letter from the regulatory authority that states that no further action is necessary. Triterra has the expertise to navigate through various scenarios to ensure that appropriate actions are taken.

We also assist our clients with other real estate related environmental issues, including

We would like to hear from you— contact us for more information on our service areas and what we can do for you.