Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

Virginia Environmental Professionals, LLC (VEP) completed a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) of a property located in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia. The Phase I ESA was completed in accordance with the newest American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Practice E1527-21.  The Phase I ESA was completed as part of the due diligence process prior to an internal divestiture of a division of the company. The transaction did not include land as the building space is leased from an unrelated property owner.

The subject property consisted of 15.025 acres of land and one building with a total area of 111,796 square feet (sq ft).

Limitations and data failures were encountered and included historical sources not available at five-year intervals dating back to 1940, and proprietary and confidential processes and products for US Department of Defense contracts that facility personnel would not allow VEP staff to document. The presence of these items did not affect VEP’s ability to identify conditions indicative of a release or threatened release of hazardous substances to the subject property and did not have a material impact on the conclusions of this report.

Site reconnaissance revealed the use and storage of hazardous materials and petroleum products at the facility in chemical bunkers, boiler room, and in laboratories. The products were used for laboratory testing, cleaning, and manufacturing processes. Most of the laboratory chemicals were stored in small containers and used for small laboratory scale testing. Acetone, J-P8 (jet fuel), toluene, hazardous waste, and some other chemicals were observed in larger pails and 55-gallon drums, which were used as bulk storage to transfer the chemicals to smaller laboratory use containers. All hazardous substances and petroleum products were stored on concrete floors, on spill containment pallets, or in sealed chemical bunkers that were designed to contain spills. Minor drips and spills were observed, but are considered “de minimis” in nature. A waste pretreatment system was observed in the boiler room and consists of three (3) subsurface treatment tanks and pumping system. The pretreatment system is reported as being used for the treatment of arsenic waste solutions from a former circuit board manufacturing process. The waste stream was treated in the system prior to discharge to the municipal sanitary sewer system for further treatment. A hazardous waste containment container was observed on the northwest corner of the building. The container was located on a concrete pad which was observed to be relatively new, in good condition, with no staining or stressed vegetation present. The container was used by an adjacent tenant and not by the user of the Phase I ESA Report.

According to historical information, prior to the construction of the current buildings on the property, the property was vacant wooded and grassed pasture land. The current building on the property has historically been used for light industrial, manufacturing, engineering and testing, and office space uses.

Historical aerial photographs show many 55-gallon drums, uncovered and located outside the rear of the building on a concrete pad. The drums are reported as being from another tenant in the building and not from the user of the Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Report.

Local agency records were obtained from the City of Blacksburg and from Montgomery County, Virginia and did not reveal conditions that are an environmental concern for the subject property.  Results of regulatory database reviews revealed that the current building located on the subject property was identified in databases for the storage and use of regulated hazardous substances and petroleum products. Based on the databases listed being typically administrative in nature, the listing of the facilities in the databases are generally not a concern to a property.

Interviews with the facility manager in Blacksburg  indicated the use and storage of hazardous substances on the property. The hazardous waste is disposed of by a contract disposal company. The manager stated that he was unaware of any spill, leaks, or releases of hazardous substances at the subject property. Interviews revealed that the subsurface waste pretreatment system was from a previous tenant and has never been used by the user of this Phase I ESA Report, and the drum storage area shown in the 2019 aerial photograph was for another tenant in the building and not from the user. Results of interviews did not reveal any environmental concerns for the property.

Even though hazardous substances and petroleum product were identified on the subject property, this finding is not an environmental concern for the investor based on: 1) the subsurface waste treatment system was from a former tenant and was never used by the user; 2) the outdoor drum storage area was from another tenant and not for the users operations; 3) hazardous substances, petroleum products, and hazardous wastes are stored on concrete, on sealed floors, or in sealed chemical storage bunkers; and 4) there has been no documented release and there are no reported complaints or violations for the facility. In addition, this transaction did not include land as the building space was leased from an unrelated property owner, and the investor would not be considered a responsible party for an issue where they were neither the owner nor the operator of the facility.

Based upon our observations and information gathered during the Phase I ESA, VEP did not identified recognized environmental conditions (RECs) or controlled RECs (CRECs) as defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard Practice E1527-21.