Last week EDR hosted the first three of nine Due Diligence at Dawn seminars (Chicago, San Francisco, and Orange County) to be held this fall.
This annual program, in its 18th year, brings together environmental professionals in metro regions to share EDR’s expertise on the top technical and business issues affecting the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Industry. Educational tracts this fall include national and regional market updates by the EDR Insight Group, an update on the standards that drive the Phase I industry, and a review of the latest technologies being used in the field to drive efficiency. In addition, EDR brought together a panel of local lenders to educate consultants on how they can better serve the interests of their lender clients.

99% of attendees noted that the program exceeded or met their objectives. Comments included “This was one of the best due diligence seminars. Pertinent discussions on topics that are relevant to environmental consultants.” and “ EDR has consistently had its finger on the pulse of the Phase I Industry.”

Jon Walker, EVP of Sales and Marketing at EDR says “We are excited to continue to host these seminars that reinforce EDR’s brand as an industry leader, opinion maker, and educator providing content to help our clients grow.” With 320 environmental professionals in attendance at the first week of seminars, the entire series is expected to reach an audience of over 1,200. DDD resumes November 7th in Dallas. Learn more about the program and schedule here.

MILFORD, Conn. —Environmental Data Resources Inc. (EDR), the national provider of property-specific environmental information and risk management solutions, today announced the creation of a new role at the company that aims to further cement its commitment to the consulting and engineering community.

Effective immediately, Joseph Burstiner has assumed the position of Managing Director for EDR’s Consulting and Engineering division. In this new role, leading the vision and strategy, Burstiner will focus on EDR’s ongoing mission to deliver the highest quality content available for environmental professionals and engineers. Burstiner will support clients’ growth by working closely with them on product enhancements, features, and workflow solutions that best meet their needs.

Most recently a National Account Manager, Burstiner has been handling EDR’s accounts in the environmental sector for 17 years, and has been an active voice for customers by providing feedback to all departments at EDR headquarters. Having deep industry knowledge, Burstiner has spoken on a broad array of industry topics at over 75 of EDR’s Due Diligence at Dawn seminars around the country.

Fred VanderPloeg of PSI says: “We’ve worked with Joe for a decade and he’s been a consistently reliable resource for all aspects of our due diligence business. Joe stays ahead of market trends, is generous with his insight and knowledge, and has provided steady, effective account management for our large volume of business. We consider Joe a valuable asset to our business.”

Rob Barber, EDR CEO, says “Joe’s passion to support our clients’ success coupled with his deep industry knowledge makes him the perfect choice for this role. Joe’s new role is the latest step in our mission to constantly improve upon our customers’ experience. Other recent initiatives including the launch of the Net Promoter Score last spring and the expansion of our Customer Care Team all make this a very exciting time at EDR. ”

MILFORD, Conn., June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Environmental Data Resources Inc. (EDR), the national provider of property-specific environmental information and risk management solutions, today announced a $3.2 million investment to enhance and expand its historical resources collections over the next three years. The first use of these funds is part of a project called EDR’s City Directory Super Library.

City directories are an important historical source used by environmental professionals to comply with ASTM E1527-05 Standard Practice for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments.  By providing a record of changes in occupancy at property locations, city directories enable the evaluation of potential liabilities resulting from past activities.

EDR’s City Directory Super Library project is the first of its kind to aggregate city directory resources from across the nation into a single consolidated repository.   It will provide EDR clients with unmatched years and geographic coverage to support comprehensive and accurate environmental due diligence efforts.

EDR’s first two investments includes the acquisition  from Haines & Company  of Haines’ entire collection of over 3,000 historical city directories, ranging from 1933-2012, and obtaining a license from Haines for future city directories produced by Haines.  EDR has also signed an agreement with Cole Information Company which provides EDR with rights to their electronic database of over 2 billion records from 1992 to the present.

Adding these extensive archives from Haines and Cole to EDR’s already extensive in-house collections, EDR’s existing agreements with InfoUSA/Polk and EDR mobile research facilities will result in the most comprehensivecity directory library in the nation.

According to EDR’s CEO Rob Barber, “These are exciting additions for EDR as they align with our commitment to provide our clients with the most comprehensive historical research collection for environmental due diligence. This effort began in 1996 when we acquired the Sanborn Map Company assets, giving our clients access to the only complete collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in the country.”  In addition, Barber states, “EDR has also invested in ongoing aerial photo acquisitions, and we are pleased to share that our investments will continue for years to come.”

For more information on EDR’s city directory service, visit www.edrnet.com/citydirectories.

EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP PROVIDES SEAMLESS ELECTRONIC EDUCATION CREDENTIALS MANAGEMENT

Hobsons, provider of Naviance, the most widely adopted college-and career-readiness platform for K-12 schools and districts and Parchment Inc, the education credentials data pioneer, today announced an exclusive partnership. Together, the two organizations will allow students to securely send application forms, recommendations, and transcripts electronically through Docufide byParchment® to more than 1,700 participating colleges and universities.

The combination of Docufide by Parchment and Naviance eDocs – a tool that allows schools to prepare and send college application documents electronically – offers users reduced time, resources and costs, and provides the peace of mind that applications will reach post-secondary institutions quickly and securely. This exclusive agreement extends the companies’ successful partnership serving thousands of schools – enabling Naviance members to send more than 13 million documents so far this application season.

In addition to the improving staff efficiencies, Naviance eDocs also dramatically decreases costs associated with college applications: postage, time saved from staff, and ancillary costs. Before Naviance eDocs, many schools primary relied on submitting paper-based transcription, school profiles, and recommendations to colleges.

“Naviance eDocs has transformed the way schools manage the college application process,” says Stephen M. Smith, president of Hobsons K-12. “Schools have traditionally tracked and sent hundreds or thousands of documents supporting students’ admission applications manually, including letters of recommendation, transcripts, and other required forms.  Docufide by Parchment is uniquely positioned by virtue of the size of its network of senders and receivers and its status as a trusted intermediary to be the conduit for Naviance eDocs transmissions, through our partnership with Parchment we are able to streamline the entire process with secure electronic document exchange; helping schools free staff to focus on guiding students toward success rather than rote administrative tasks.”

“Naviance is the cornerstone of college-going culture for thousands of schools and districts across multiple countries,” says Parchment CEO Matt Pittinsky. “I am thrilled that they have decided to design and integrate Naviance eDocs around Docufide.  The company was a natural choice for a partnership that improves the electronic college application process.”

Trepp CMBS Delinquency Rate Hits All Time High in May:
Rate Surpasses the 10% Level as Delinquencies Increase for Third Month

(NEW YORK – May 30, 2012) - Trepp, LLC, the leading provider of information, analytics and technology to the CMBS, commercial real estate and banking markets, released its May 2012 U.S. CMBS Delinquency Rate today (full report available Friday, June 1 athttp://www.trepp.com/knowledge/research).

The delinquency rate for U.S. commercial real estate loans in CMBS jumped 24 basis points in May to 10.04%. In the process, the rate broke through the 10% threshold for the first time ever.

Back in December, Trepp predicted that 2012 could be a rocky year for CMBS in terms of the delinquency rate. This prediction was in anticipation of five-year loans securitized in 2007 beginning to reach their maturity dates. At the time, the delinquency rate was around 9.51%, and it was expected that these maturing loans could lead to a spike of 70 basis points in the short term.

It appears that this prophecy has come true. Up 24 basis points in May alone, the delinquency rate has increased 67 basis points in total since February. Whether the rate finally breaching the double-digit mark will carry some psychological impact remains to be seen.

The good news for the CMBS market is that the five-year loans originated in 2007 were heavily front-loaded. This means that by the end of this June, the number of these loans reaching their maturity date will start to dwindle.

“While cracking the 10% barrier might weigh on the market’s psyche for a short time, there are likely better days ahead in terms of delinquencies over the next six months. A big driver of the recent surge in the delinquency rate has come from loans that were originated in 2007 that are coming due now. As we get later in the year, the impact of this trend will dissipate. The next two or three months could be bumpy, but the second half of the year should bring a leveling off of the rate,” said Manus Clancy, senior managing director at Trepp.

Currently, $59.1 billion in loans are delinquent. This excludes loans that are past their balloon date but are current in their interest payments. There are $79.2 billion in loans with the special servicer.

The increase in the delinquency rate was driven by weak performance among hotel and industrial loans. Overall, four of the five largest property types saw delinquencies rise. Only the apartment sector improved, and that was by a single basis point.

For additional details, request the May U.S. CMBS Delinquency Report at http://www.trepp.com. For daily CMBS and bank trading ideas, credit events and commentary, register for TreppWire or follow us on Twitter.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Genscape, a pioneer in sophisticated and patented monitoring systems, today announces the launch of its RIN Integrity Network. Serving biodiesel producers, marketers, blenders and obligated parties, the service promotes the restoration of integrity and liquidity to the RINs market. Producers join the service through a rigorous auditing process recommended by the National Biodiesel Board RIN Integrity Task Force and continue promoting their integrity through ongoing validation. Ongoing validation includes the industry-recognized, proprietary monitoring capabilities that Genscape has used to bring trusted transparency to energy commodity markets.

“We are confident that producers and obligated parties will see the value in Genscape’s comprehensive auditing and real-time monitoring program. The technology and design are impressive and highly efficient,” said National Biodiesel Board CEO, Joe Jobe.

Recognizing the sense of urgency for biodiesel producers to promote their integrity in the wake of devastating fraud, the RIN Integrity Network™ is being implemented with a fast-to-market, two-phase approach. The initial launch of the service showcases audited plants on a Dashboard map with details of audit compliance that are desired by obligated parties. Dozens of producers are in the onboarding process to be added to the Dashboard. In parallel, ongoing monitoring is being configured for producers that have registered for the service.

“Genscape’s seen a fantastic response from the industry during the development of the RIN Integrity Network. We had over 70 registrations from producers pre-launch and currently have 15 commitments from obligated parties to begin evaluating the service,” said Robert Barton, Chief Operating Officer at Genscape. “Genscape understands the sense of urgency for an industry solution and has pushed hard to meet our May launch date commitment.”

For more information on how Genscape’s new RIN Integrity Network can benefit your biofuel business visit: http://info.genscape.com/RIN.