The SBA’s environmental policy, which has been adopted by many lenders as a sound risk management approach, allows smaller loans on less risky properties to get by without doing comprehensive environmental due diligence—at least at first.
If the loan amount is under $150,000 and the property type is not listed on SBA’s list of environmentally sensitive operations (such as industrial use, gas stations or auto shops), then the environmental due diligence can start with just an Environmental Questionnaire.
(Side Note: The SBA Environmental Questionnaire is also required for all loans on low risk properties, regardless of the loan amount, as the questionnaire will be included in the desktop environmental report required for this category—the Records Search with Risk Assessment or “RSRA.” Refer to my previous blog about what the RSRA includes, and click for a flowchart of the steps in SBA’s environmental policy.)
Continue reading the GlobeSt blog here.

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SBA SOP 50 10 8 Environmental Updates: What’s New Published April 24, 2025; Updated May 30, 2025, upon release of the SOP 50 10 8 with Technical Updates. SOP 50 […]

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The New SBA SOPs 50 10 7 and 7.1: Environmental Policy Updates On May 10, 2023, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued the newest Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 50 […]

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Making Sense of Environmental Due Diligence Environmental contaminants can open both borrowers and lenders to liability while also decreasing property value. Lenders require environmental due diligence to be performed to […]




