root posted on November 24, 2010 06:25
Lansing, MI, April 26, 2010 - PM Environmental, a Michigan-based environmental consulting firm, has been ranked one of the nation’s leading providers of Phase I environmental site assessments, according to data released this week by Milford, Connecticut-based Environmental Data Resources (EDR).
EDR, whose market research arm created ScoreKeeper, the market monitor for the environmental due diligence industry, releases quarterly results that provide strategic information on Phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) activity by region, state, metropolitan area and individual firm. ScoreKeeper includes the EDR25 Index, a tool used to track the performance trends of the top 25 ESA providers, which collectively accounted for one-third of all Phase Is conducted in the U.S. in 2009.
Phase I environmental site assessments are used by real estate investors, lenders and other entities to assess a commercial property’s potential for environmental contamination. According to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), property owners can be held liable for contamination, even if they didn’t cause it, unless they contract with a qualified environmental professional to conduct a pre-purchase environmental site assessment investigation—a “Phase I ESA”—prior to purchase.
In the first quarter of 2010, PM Environmental broke into the ScoreKeeper EDR25 Index at number 19; the company was ranked number one in Michigan for the seventh consecutive quarter.
“We are very pleased that we have experienced quarter on quarter volume increases in these difficult economic times,” said Mike Kulka, PM Environmental’s owner and founder. “We’re also very proud of all our professionals on staff who helped us make it into the index of top companies in the U.S. market.”
“PME is to be congratulated on their success, particularly in an extremely tough year for Phase I firms,” said Dianne Crocker, a senior economist and managing director of EDR’s Market Research Group. “Last year, commercial real estate transactions were down 67 percent, and Phase I volume fell by 23 percent below 2008 levels. Yet through hard work and innovative business strategies, PME managed to not just survive, but thrive. In one year, they moved up seven places to secure a solid position in the EDR25 Index.”