There are two new tools brought into play by Alberta Environment to simplify, and reduce your risk in purchasing industrial property in Alberta.
1. Easy View of Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) history on a property. Using Alberta Registries Land Titles SPIN2 technology, the Environmental Site Assessment Repository allows you to search for a site by legal land description, municipal address or map. If information on a site is available, users can download, email and print relevant information and documents.
The Environmental Site Assessment Repository is an online, searchable database that provides scientific and technical information about assessed sites throughout Alberta.
Environmental site assessments determine the quality of soil and groundwater of a site, particularly at retail gas stations and other commercial and industrial sites. A site assessment does not necessarily mean a site is, or ever was, contaminated.
Give it a try here: http://ENVIRONMENT.ALBERTA.CA/2948.HTML
2. Peace of Mind. Alberta Environment will now provide closure of regulatory liability against changing remediation guidelines through its new, Remediation Certificate Program. Remediation certification is a voluntary process that provides assurance that additional remediation is not required if remediation guidelines are amended or updated.
Remediation certificates will provide lending institutions, investors, and the public assurance that substance releases have been remediated to the satisfaction of Alberta Environment for a defined land use.
Initially, remediation certificates will be available for petroleum storage tank (PST), such as retail gas station sites. In the future, the program will be expanded to include upstream oil and gas sites.
Site owners who wish to receive a remediation certificate must submit a remediation certificate application form and $1,000 application fee.
To support the program, Alberta Environment developed A Guide to Remediation Certificates for Petroleum Storage Tank Sites, Remediation Certificate Application Form, Third Party Risk Management Plan Agreement form, and a Fact Sheet. These documents are available at http://environment.alberta.ca/3498.html
Questions or comments about the program may be directed to:
land.management (at) gov.ab.ca
