Arkansas
RATFA State Priority List (SPL)
The RATFA State Priority List (SPL) is one of the Remedial Action Trust Fund Priority Lists on the RATFA page of the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ's Hazardous Waste Branch administers the cleanup program under the Act. RATFA is the Arkansas Remedial Action Trust Fund Act, codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 8-7-501 et seq. DEQ says the Act gives the state money and authority to investigate and deal with releases of hazardous substances, and lets the state take part in response actions under the federal Superfund law. A cleanup under the Act may be voluntary, ordered by DEQ, or brought about by a lawsuit from the state or another party the law allows to sue.
In a Phase I ESA
The SPL is the Arkansas form of the state equivalent to the federal Superfund lists, which ASTM E1527-21 names as a standard source. The general reading of a state Superfund listing is on the state Superfund equivalent page. DEQ's Hazardous Waste Branch says it runs the state's program for cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites, working with EPA's Superfund program. DEQ does not call the SPL a state Superfund list, so the pairing is this handbook's reading of DEQ's description of the Act.
Four Arkansas details shape how to read the list.
- A site is added by rulemaking. Before a site goes on the SPL through a rulemaking, DEQ weighs how near it is to population centers, its possible effect on surface water and groundwater, the hydrology and geology, the hazardous substances there, and releases that are known or threatened.
- The page has three tables. DEQ's RATFA page lists sites under RATFA National Priority List, RATFA State Priority List and Previously Listed RATFA State Priority Sites. On October 13, 2026 they held 15, 10 and 31 rows. The third table holds sites the page calls previously listed, so read which table a site is in. The pages read do not say why a site left the list.
- Each row gives the AFIN. Every table has columns for the EPA ID (some rows read None), the Arkansas Facility Identification Number (AFIN), the site name and its location. In the two state tables each site name links a PDF site summary, which this handbook did not open; in the first table it links EPA's page for the site.
- DEQ also assesses sites for the federal list. DEQ's Superfund page says one main job of its Superfund work is assessing sites for possible listing on the federal National Priorities List, through a preliminary assessment, then, if warranted, a site inspection and sometimes an expanded site inspection. EPA's Hazard Ranking System then scores the site, and a site must score 28.5 or more to be placed on that list. Ask whether DEQ's file holds such an assessment for a site on neither list. The general reading of the federal list is on the NPL page.
The Elective Site Cleanup Agreement listing uses RATFA as a project status for at least one entry; see Elective Site Cleanup Agreement (ESCA) Program.
Where to look a site up
- The three tables are on DEQ's Arkansas's Remedial Action Trust Fund page.
- DEQ's Superfund Sites in Arkansas page carries a table of the same federal sites and, for a complete list of Arkansas Superfund sites, points to EPA Region 6's Superfund page for Arkansas.
- DEQ's Hazardous Waste Technical page lists a Corrective Action Remediation line, 501-682-0972. Its permitting page gives the Hazardous Waste Division at 501-682-0833.
Getting the file
DEQ takes Freedom of Information Act requests by email at EE.FOIA@arkansas.gov, and its Records Management Section arranges visits to review files. See Records Management and FOIA requests.
Sources
Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: