Federal Environmental Laws Affecting Real Estate: A Review of Clean Water Act Section 404, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

2014, Past Issues, Print, Volume 46 (2014) Issue 1 (Spring)
Robert D. Anderson, Norm James, Dawn Meidinger & Greg Adams. Standard practice for conducting due diligence as part of real estate trans-actions has long included an assessment of the potential for a site to have “recognized environmental conditions,” i.e., hazardous substances or petro-leum products released to the environment. In addition to this evaluation, sound due diligence practices should include an evaluation of the potential for federal regulatory requirements to significantly affect value. This paper will look at four general areas: the Clean Water Act1 (“CWA”), the Endan-gered Species Act2 (“ESA”), the National Environmental Policy Act3 (“NEPA”) and the National Historic Preservation Act4 (“NHPA”). Full Article
Read More