INSTEP LEP Certification

---

The International Society of Technical and Environmental Professionals (INSTEP) provides a voluntary industry certification program [INSTEP Licensed Environmental Professional (LEP)] designed to assure that professionals providing Phase I ESAs have an acceptable academic background and a minimal level of appropriate experience.

In order to qualify for the INSTEP LEP certification one must meet one of the following requirements:

• Be a professional engineer or professional geologist, with the equivalent of three years of full-time relevant experience, or
• Be licensed or certified by the federal government, a state, tribal entity, with the equivalent of three years of full-time relevant experience, or
• Have a 4-year or higher degree in a relevant discipline of engineering, environmental science, or earth science and the equivalent of five years of full-time relevant experience, or
• Have the equivalent of ten years of full-time relevant experience.

Candidates, for certification by the International Society of Technical and Environmental Professionals (INSTEP), will be required to take and successfully complete an examination which will cover the following basic areas:

• Applicable Federal and State laws and regulations.
• Basic Environmental Site Assessment methods.
• Basics of environmental chemistry, hydrogeology, toxicology, remediation methods, assessment, monitoring, sampling and analysis, and health and safety as it applies to site inspection.
• Ethical and legal considerations for the consultant.

aving attained the status of an INSTEP LEP, each individual will be required to undergo 8 hours of Continuing Education (CE) each year as well as maintain their Annual Membership in INSTEP. For every hour of instruction, you get 1 CE.

The INSTEP LEP examination is designed to test your understanding of issues of environmental site assessment. Passage of the exam (70%) will provide for the INSTEP Licensed Environmental Professional (LEP) designation.

The questions for the exam have been developed by INSTEP and have been reviewed for relevance to the designated Certified/Registration. The questions for each exam are selected and prepared by the INSTEP Exam Review Committee. The exams are sealed and not opened until the time of the exam, thus there is no person associated with the course who has specific knowledge of the questions or their answers. In simple terms, we do not "teach the exam."

The exam is a closed book exam consisting of 100 questions that are either multiple choice or true and false type. There are no essay questions. There may be "scenario" groups of questions, where a scenario is established and several questions related to the scenario are to be answered. In order to qualify to sit for the exam, you have certified that you have a given minimum of experience in Environmental Site Assessment. It may be expected that there are questions which test your experienced-based judgement and that these questions may not be covered by the course material or permitted references. Here are the key areas to study for the INSTEP LEP Exam:

• ASTM Standards
• ASTM E 1527
• ASTM E 1528
• ASTM E 1903
• Federal Register - Final rule on AAI

Please download the the LEP Credentials Application Form (see below) if you would like to apply to take the INSTEP LEP Exam