Many attorneys on the business and legal sides of transactions involving the transfer of real property have developed working knowledge of the primary purposes of performing Phase I environmental due diligence: (1) gain information on the environmental conditions of a property; (2) establish defenses to CERCLA liability; (3) secure lending; and (4) secure insurance.

Many attorneys are also generally familiar with the CERCLA defenses parties seek to establish when conducting appropriate environmental due diligence:  (1) Innocent Purchaser Defense; (2) Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser defense (also applies to tenants); (3) Contiguous Property Owner defense; and (4) Lender Liability defense.

Notwithstanding this collective knowledge, environmental attorneys often receive the question: What is a REC, anyway?

For the answer, do checkout this discourse, beginning at page 14, prepared by Ilana Morady, Jeryl Olson, and Andrew Perellis.