Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: Core and Shell, LEED BD+C: Schools

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2009, v2 - Schools 2007, v2 - LEED 2.2

Inquiry

The site is 1.7 acres in a dense urban area that formerly housed an automobile dealership. As such it was determined to be petroleum impacted, which was identified during a Limited Site Characterization Study (SCS) which conforms to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality\'s Petroleum Storage Tank (PST) Regulations. LEED Reference Guide 2.2 states that a brownfield is "documented as contaminated by means of an ASTM E1903-97 Phase II Environmental Site Assessment or a local Voluntary Cleanup Program." The PST regulations are not as stringent as the ASTM Site assessment however; the SCS satisfies most of the Phase II requirements. We have test results indicating contamination is present, and we will be conducting cleanup to address the contamination. Are the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality\'s Petroleum Storage Tank (PST) Regulations along with the voluntary clean-up and assumed liability as required in the DEQ\'s PST "Step in Shoes" program sufficient to meet the intentions of the brownfield credit?