Environmental Science

What is a level 2 environmental site assessment?
The term "Level 2" is not really a legal or technical term, but it is commonly used to identify a report that usually contains the analysis of soil or water samples by a qualified laboratory for the concentration of known hazardous substances. The "level" of the assessment will depend somewhat on the ability of the local environment to absorb ormitigate problems on its own. More commonly the state government has published "guidelines" or "rules" defining the legal maximum contaminant level or MCL allowed in soil or groundwater based on toxicity studies and other statistical analyses. These maximums are sometimes referred to ascleanup levels or action levels and form the basis for determining that a site has been "cleaned-up" (another termseldom found in a competent environmental report.) All known hazardous substances have such levels defined by state rules.
For example a common MCL for gasoline in soil is now 100 mg/kg (or 100 parts per million) whereas the MCL for just the Benzene portion of the gasoline in groundwater is 1 µg/L (one part per billion.) Sites that involve the potential contamination of groundwater will likelybe radically more difficult and expensive to achieve a "no further action" level than sites with soil contamination only.
Why do I have to do this testing? If you must do a level 2 site assessment, there may already be the suspicion of a problem on your site. Perhaps a level 1 assessment indicated a problem on your or nearby property. Perhaps an undesirable sample has been drawn from a neighbor'swater well. A level 2 assessment can also mean that your state department of ecology or environment has been contacted and may have ordered this investigation based on the follow-up of a complaint. There could be a regional groundwater issue or some other contamination issue and certain property owners may have been identified based on the predicted or known flow path of a known substance.
Banksare often more strict than government agencies on certain environmental issues, and a simplerefinancing may involve a lender or an underwriter's requirement for such a test on commercial property. An owner may also voluntarily order a report for due diligence based on advice or suspicion that a nearby activity may have affected his or her property.  
Is this an environmental impactassessment? (Click here for some views of a typical cleanup.) A level 2 or phase 2 environmental site assessment can sometimes be considered an impact assessment. Sometimes the same activity can be called a cleanup. The assessment can also be an instrumental part of the planning process in large scale projects. The scope of such studies can be broad and difficult to predict depending on the details of the siteand the project, and the characteristics of the of the potential hazard.
What should the cost be for a Level 2 environmental assessment?
The scale and therefore the cost of the sampling will vary widely depending on whether significant multidisciplinary or complex environmental issues are present. However a figure credited to the World Bank for large scale projects is the one per-cent rule basedon the cost of construction not including operational accidents. Costs will be lower if the assessment is done before significant construction has started. The cost of a smaller scale assessment will be determined by the assessor based on the likelihood of encountering a known hazard. 
There will be no guarantee of a "clean" site. The only way to prove a site clean is to excavate 100% of thearea, an unrealistic idea. A plan for a logical pattern of samples must be designed with the goal of performing a diligent search for potential environmental conditions. There is no standard way of laying out a pattern or depth of sample locations except in the case of very common sites such as gas stations and the systematic removal of obsolete and leaking underground storage tanks (LUST.) These...