"Benefits of Dealing With a Registered Brownfield Professional" Now Available Free At www.brownfieldpros.org - September 21, 2007

Registered Brownfield Professional (R.B.P.) is the nationally recognized credential awarded by the Institute of Brownfield Professionals to those environmental professionals whose education, training, and experience qualify them to determine the type of environmental "all-appropriate inquiry" (AAI) study a client requires, and to design and lead the study, from start to finish.

The Institute of Brownfield Professionals created the R.P.B. designation in response to a new, federal "environmental professional" designation that anyone can use when they have ten years of experience that they believe qualifies them to do what they think needs to be done. "Environmental professionals" do not need to be high-school graduates.

According to Institute of Brownfield Professionals President W. Jerrold Samford, P.G., R.B.P., "New federal rules make dealing with an 'environmental professional' a caveat emptor situation; buyer beware. In order to obtain available protections provided by the Superfund Law, those who purchase or own a property, among others, need to demonstrate that they made a good-faith effort to retain someone qualified to conduct an AAI. The financial consequences of relying on someone unqualified can be crippling."

The Institute has just published a Benefits of Dealing with a Registered Brownfield Professional advisory available at http://www.brownfieldpros.org, the Institute's website. The advisory points out the qualifications that an R.B.P. must possess, and also discusses elements of regulations that took effect less than one year ago. "Previously, performing a by-the-numbers phase-one environmental site assessment was considered enough to obtain the liability protections," Mr. Samford explained. "And anyone could do one, because there was no definition of what an 'environmental professional' was. Frankly, while the definition that the government ultimately developed is better, they are not in the 'credentialing' business and it is really up to the profession to define the qualifications needed for all appropriate inquiry and brownfield studies. While a Registered Brownfield Professional would most certainly qualify as an 'environmental professional,' very few people who claim the 'environmental professional' title would qualify as R.B.P.s."

The principal benefits of dealing with Registered Brownfield Professionals relate to risk reduction and dollar savings. "The cost of conducting the wrong AAI, or conducting the right AAI improperly, can easily go into the millions of dollars," Mr. Samford said. "There's always a dollar benefit derived from doing it right the first time, and also from performing the right study; certainly no less, and also no more than what's needed."