What Due Diligence Is Due?‎

EPA answered the question in 2006 when it outlined All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI)‎‎ in response to ‎CERCLA revisions that made new defenses available to some categories of landowners. In its AAI Rule, ‎EPA accepted ASTM Standard 1527-05 – "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase ‎I Site Assessment Process" – as the manner by which due diligence was to be done. Standard 1527 ‎was updated in late 2013 and EPA sought to accept both the 2013 version and the previous 2005 ‎version as acceptable practice for AAI. Stakeholders concerned by having competing practices ‎interposed public comments stating that by so doing EPA was causing confusion in the ‎marketplace. As a result, EPA withdrew the proposed rule, leaving the 2006 AAI rule in effect. ‎Prospective purchasers, lenders, investors and others perform Phase I Environmental Site ‎Assessments for a variety of reasons, only one of which is to comply with the AAI rule. So what ‎diligence is due today