4.4 Environmental Issues and Special Topics

The Department of Ecology

The Washington State Department of Ecology is the lead environmental agency. It administers most of the programs that touch real estate:

Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA)

The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), now codified at RCW 70A.305, is Washington's contaminated-site cleanup law — the state analog to the federal Superfund (CERCLA). Its liability scheme is what the exam tests:

Why this matters to a licensee: Because liability follows the land, a buyer purchasing a former gas station or dry cleaner can become responsible for cleanup. This drives the use of Phase I Environmental Site Assessments and the innocent-landowner due-diligence defense. Ecology maintains a public list of contaminated and cleanup sites.

Shoreline Management Act (SMA)

The Shoreline Management Act protects Washington's marine and freshwater shorelines.

Growth Management Act (GMA)

The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires fast-growing counties and their cities to adopt comprehensive plans, draw urban growth area (UGA) boundaries that concentrate development, and protect critical areas.

GMA can make a parcel undevelopable or require large buffers, so it is a material fact when a critical area overlaps the land.

The GMA also drives impact fees and concurrency rules: in planning jurisdictions, new development must be matched by adequate roads, water, and sewer capacity, and a county can deny or delay a project until that infrastructure exists. For a buyer of raw land, the practical questions are whether the parcel sits inside or outside the UGA (outside generally means rural densities, no urban services, and tougher subdivision), and whether a wetland, steep slope, or stream buffer eats into the buildable area. A licensee should send buyers to the local planning department rather than promise a particular use is allowed.

Seller Disclosure Statement — Form 17

Washington requires a Seller Disclosure Statement ("Form 17") under RCW 64.06 for most residential resales. The seller completes it; the broker delivers it. The buyer then has three business days to rescind after receiving it (unless waived). Form 17 is a disclosure, not a warranty, but a knowingly false answer is actionable.

Trap: A buyer who has not received Form 17 generally retains a rescission right; delivering it late does not erase the three-day window — it restarts it.

Federal lead-based paint (Title X)

For housing built before 1978, federal law requires the seller/lessor to:

1. Disclose known lead-based paint and hazards.
2. Provide the EPA "Protect Your Family from Lead" pamphlet.
3. Offer the buyer a 10-day opportunity to test (waivable).
4. Include the lead warning statement and signatures in the contract.

Other material Washington hazards

Licensee rule of thumb: You do not have to be an environmental expert, but you must disclose what you know and not conceal a known material defect. Steer buyers to qualified inspectors (Phase I, geotech, septic) rather than offering opinions outside your competence.

Water rights and septic — quiet deal-killers

Two Washington-specific issues regularly surprise rural buyers. First, water rights: in Washington, water is a public resource, and the right to draw it is regulated by Ecology. A property may rely on a permit-exempt well (limited to a capped indoor/outdoor use and tied to land-use rules after the 2018 "Hirst fix" legislation), so a buyer counting on irrigating acreage may find the supply legally restricted. Second, on-site sewage systems (septic): county health departments regulate inspection and capacity, and a failing system or one too small for a planned addition can block a remodel.

A worked closing scenario: a buyer plans to add two bedrooms to a rural home on a well and septic. The licensee should flag (1) whether the septic's design capacity supports the added bedrooms, and (2) whether the well's permit-exempt status legally allows the intended water use — both are material facts, both belong on Form 17, and both are best confirmed by the county and a qualified inspector rather than by the broker's assurance.