[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 27]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR312.23]

[Page 401-402]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 312_INNOCENT LANDOWNERS, STANDARDS FOR CONDUCTING ALL APPROPRIATE 
 
                    Subpart C_Standards and Practices
 
Sec.  312.23  Interviews with past and present owners, operators, and 

occupants.

    (a) Interviews with owners, operators, and occupants of the subject 
property must be conducted for the purposes of achieving the objectives 
and performance factors of Sec.  312.20(e) and (f).
    (b) The inquiry of the environmental professional must include 
interviewing the current owner and occupant of the subject property. If 
the property has multiple occupants, the inquiry of the environmental 
professional shall include interviewing major occupants, as well as 
those occupants likely to use, store, treat, handle or dispose of 
hazardous substances [and in the case of inquiries conducted for persons 
identified in Sec.  312.1(b)(2) pollutants, contaminants, petroleum and 
petroleum products, and controlled substances (as defined in 21 U.S.C. 
802)], or those who have likely done so in the past.
    (c) The inquiry of the environmental professional also must include, 
to the extent necessary to achieve the objectives and performance 
factors of Sec.  312.20(e) and (f), interviewing one or more of the 
following persons:
    (1) Current and past facility managers with relevant knowledge of 
uses and physical characteristics of the property;
    (2) Past owners, occupants, or operators of the subject property; or
    (3) Employees of current and past occupants of the subject property.

[[Page 402]]

    (d) In the case of inquiries conducted at ``abandoned properties,'' 
as defined in Sec.  312.10, where there is evidence of potential 
unauthorized uses of the subject property or evidence of uncontrolled 
access to the subject property, the environmental professional's inquiry 
must include interviewing one or more (as necessary) owners or occupants 
of neighboring or nearby properties from which it appears possible to 
have observed uses of, or releases at, such abandoned properties for the 
purpose of gathering information necessary to achieve the objectives and 
performance factors of Sec.  312.20(e) and (f).