Environmental Considerations for Real Estate

Typically, drycleaners are a red flag for environmental assessments due to the inherent solvent use in the drycleaning practice. Specifically, tetrachloroethylene (also known as perchloroethylene, or perc) is a very invasive solvent, that when spilled can migrate through the subsurface and contaminate groundwater pretty easily. It travels quickly, and can cause problems quickly if groundwater is used for drinking water. It can also cause indoor air quality problems if the groundwater moisture reaches basements and the perc volatizes to indoor air spaces. It is more common in the modern era, beacuse of what we now know about the invasive nature of perc, for drycleaning operations to use closed loops drycleaning machinery. The solvent is safely pumped into the machinery, and is self contained and recycled until it is spent and needs to be removed. This is typically done by a licensed contractor, who will implement safe waste transferring methods, and off-site disposal. If a drycleaner has only been in operation for a few years and can demonstrate that all of these safeguards are in place, an environmental assessment of the facility will not always result in the need for additional investigation. Unfortunately, there are not shortage of drycleaners out there that have been in operation for 30-40 years. Some of them have only recently switched to a closed loop system, and some of them even still use outdated machinery in which the liquid transfer and potential for spills is more likely. Whatever the case, the point is to make sure to perform environmental due diligence in any commercial property transaction involving current or historical drycleaning operations.