BATTA Environmental Associates was selected to provide the United States Department of Agriculture with environmental services needed to support easement acquisitions due to increases in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Emergency Watershed Protection Program Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE). Services focused on covered programs including, but not limited to, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP), and the Emergency Watershed Protection Program Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE).

• The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) required the services of two (2) Environmental Professionals to independently review limited Phase I, Phase I, or Phase II environmental site assessments for NRCS. The effort required under this Performance Work Statement (PWS) was to provide non-personal Environmental Professional services to the USDA-NRCS Easements Program Division (EPD).
• The scope of work was to provide Environmental Services to support the framework led by EPD to service States in acquiring conservation easements as they implemented NRCS easement programs.
• Services focused on BATTA independently reviewing environmental site assessments within the scope of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. §9601), following the appropriate American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) standards and petroleum products.

SCOPE OF WORK

Objective/Tasks include:

1. Reviewed limited Phase I and Phase II reports and documentation provided by EPD
2. Assisted NRCS in ASTM standards determinations by reviewing records for Activity and Use Limitations, verifying database information older than 4 months, and examining regulatory files and USGS Also reviewed and summarized historical documents for the pre-acquisition environmental site assessment, with all information included in the final report.
3. BATTA provided NRCS with rationale for determining recognized environmental conditions in each report, summarizing these conditions and recommending whether to acquire a conservation easement based on program requirements and site
4. Drafted summary-level analysis and recommendations for decision makers upon review of Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, Phase II Environmental Title Search/Commitment, appraisals, and legal boundary

In addition, BATTA provided the following:

• Recommendations for updates and clarifications in the existing NRCS statements of work applicable to the current work. Expertise support to NRCS staff in planning meetings, training, onsite visits, or staff meetings at on-site or off-site locations. Recommendations for updates and clarifications in the existing NRCS material for policy, job aids, fact sheets, or training materials for NRCS staff.
• Entered review and recommendation data and information into NRCS business systems.
• Recommendations for updates and clarifications in the existing NRCS material for policy, job aids, fact sheets, or training materials for NRCS staff.
• Expertise support to NRCS staff in planning meetings, training, onsite visits, or staff meetings at on-site or off-site locations.