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The LEA Distressed Property Program

By LEA Environmental, Inc. on Jul 15, 2013 at 10:57 AM in LEA Announcements
  • A family inherits property later found to have soil and groundwater contamination.
  • A small company is faced with burdensome environmental cleanup costs that threaten to drive it out of business.

In many cases, the owner’s most significant asset is the impaired property itself which cannot be sold (due to contamination) and cannot be borrowed against (due to the uncertain cost of remediation). These cases languish for years, depriving the owners of the best use of their asset and depriving the community of needed environmental restoration.

LEA’s Distressed Property Program addresses this dilemma using creative remediation agreements to break the logjam and complete remediation, thus unlocking the underlying value of the property. Depending on the needs and priorities of the client, this may involve deferred compensation, “sweat equity” (i.e., we’ll trade environmental consulting work for part equity in the property, or fixed-fee, guaranteed remediation contracts. These are all approaches that limit owners’ risk and manage cash flow. We can also quantify environmental liabilities based on existing knowledge, incorporating technical and/or regulatory uncertainties.

Each case is different and each owner has unique needs, thus LEA partners with owners to craft a customized program. If you are a family or small business facing environmental problems or if you have a client in this situation, please contact us to discuss the Distressed Property Program.


Dr. Everett played a significant role in insuring that our demonstration projects would result in complete and fully acceptable data that could transition into cost-effective innovative technologies in the field.
Director of Environmental Programs
Naval Facilities Engineering Command