Ending a two-year effort of building consensus,the Task Group unanimously approved a 2006 version of the standard (E 1528-06) in January of this year (hereafter referred to as the “ASTM Transaction Screen standard”). ASTM’s release of E 1528 back into the market on March 6, 2006 is the Task Group’s response to a wide range of stakeholders who weighed in on the need for a standardized tool for conducting limited environmental due diligence. The new standard is designed to serve as an early warning system to identify potential environmental concerns, or PECs, in connection with a particular parcel of real estate prior to a property transaction. Strong support by critical stakeholders during the rewriting of the standard in 2005 suggests that E 1528-06 is poised to become an invaluable tool in the hierarchy of tools available to environmental consultants, lenders, corporations, lawyers, government agencies, brokers, appraisers, home owners, and other parties with an interest in performing limited environmental inquiries at properties perceived to be “low risk.”