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Arkansas

Records Management and FOIA requests

Agency Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality

The Records Management Section of the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) helps the public find DEQ's records and review them at its headquarters. DEQ keeps files on the facilities it regulates, covering permits, enforcement, compliance, environmental reports and discharge or emissions monitoring, and it holds most of them in electronic form. Requests under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) go by email to the public information coordinator at EE.FOIA@arkansas.gov.

In a Phase I ESA

A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. The pages on each Arkansas program send you here for the file.

Five Arkansas details shape a request.

  • The Act is written for Arkansas citizens. The Attorney General's FOIA page says the Act opens public records to Arkansans, with some exceptions. The Attorney General's Freedom of Information Handbook (22nd edition, 2026) answers who may obtain records: any citizen of the State of Arkansas may inspect, copy and photograph them, citizens include corporations (the handbook's case summary speaks of a corporation doing business in this state), and why the requester wants the records does not matter. The handbook does not say whether an agency may answer someone who is not a citizen. A requester outside Arkansas can ask DEQ's coordinator first.
  • Much of it is online. DEQ's FAQ says most of its records can be reached online. The Records Management page names what can be found there: the files of facilities that DEQ regulates, including permits (active as well as void), permit applications, public comments, inspection reports and DEQ's letters. For these it points to DEQ's list of online searchable databases. The pages read do not name a separate document search.
  • Two things are not online. The same page lists files that staff are using at the time, and the registry of petroleum and chemical spills from transportation and facilities, as records not found on the website. See Spills and emergency response.
  • Brownfield files are public. DEQ's brownfield page says the assessments, agreements, plans and reports from its Voluntary Cleanup Program are public records, available during comment periods and on request under the FOIA. See the Brownfield Program.
  • Some files are destroyed. DEQ's FAQ says that once a meth-contaminated property is cleaned up and taken off the list, DEQ destroys its records of the property and the cleanup. See Clandestine Laboratory Cleanup (Meth Lab).

How to ask

  • By email. Send FOIA requests to EE.FOIA@arkansas.gov. The Records Management page calls the coordinator DEQ's public information coordinator; the Contact Us page and the Regulated Storage Tanks page call the same coordinator the Department of Energy and Environment's.
  • In person. To schedule a visit to review environmental files, the Contact Us page points to the Records Management Section. DEQ is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except holidays, at 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118-5317. The E&E main switchboard is 501-682-0744, toll-free 888-233-0326.
  • Copies. The Records Management page gives copy charges of 5 cents for each paper page and $1 for each CD or DVD.
  • Questions. The Records Management page links a page it labels Questions or Comments?, which this handbook did not open.

DEQ's pages do not say what a FOIA request should contain or how long DEQ takes to answer one. The Attorney General's FOIA page puts the usual limit for a government body at three business days to provide a requested record. Its handbook says records generally must be made available immediately unless they are in active use or storage, and then within three working days of the request. Giving the facility's name and its AFIN, the Arkansas Facility Identification Number that DEQ's listings carry and that DEQ ties to one address, helps identify the file.

Sources

Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

Office of the Arkansas Attorney General page, read October 13, 2026:

Office of the Arkansas Attorney General document, read October 13, 2026:

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with any government agency, and neither Barrow nor the information as presented here is endorsed by any state or government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report