Under Superfund legislation, the innocent landowner defense has led to the use of environmental site assessments (ESAs) as a common practice in the acquisition and financing of commercial property. The objective of this inquiry was to examine the effects of environmental risks and liabilities as disclosed in ESAs in the acquisition and financing of a set of commercial property transactions in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The findings suggest that transaction prices are not reduced in the structuring of risk and liability. In addition, financing is likely to revert to seller...