Colorado Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division records review

The Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) puts its records online in a searchable system, and takes records requests by form or email. CDPHE's Public records page gives the division's subjects as solid waste, hazardous waste, radiation management, X-ray and mammography, and environmental and methamphetamine lab cleanup.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name an agency records system among its standard record sources. In Colorado it is where a cleanup, covenant or waste listing becomes a document. Six details shape how far to trust a search.

• There are two ways in. The division's records review page links an interactive records map and a search of records by address, site name, site ID and more. It also links a how-to for the map and a page of search tips.
• Parcel numbers do not work. The division says it does not record parcel numbers and cannot search those values. In a request, give the site name and the street address, or the nearest intersection or latitude and longitude.
• No file is not a clean result. CDPHE says that having no files on a property does not necessarily mean the property is uncontaminated, since contamination may not yet have been discovered or reported to it.
• Paper records show up as a type. Hard copy records are marked as the document type "Discrete Docs" in search results. The Records Unit scans them on request.
• Related documents can be bundled. The division says it often files multiple related documents in PDF portfolios, which must be downloaded to be viewed.
• Other divisions keep their own records. The division says each environmental division maintains separate records, and that the Air Pollution Control Division and the Water Quality Control Division must be contacted individually. CDPHE's Public records page sends Tier II information requests to its Environmental Health and Sustainability division at cdphe.dehs.support@state.co.us.

CDPHE's page on how to find out if a site is contaminated adds other places to look: its quarterly hazardous waste inspection and enforcement reports, its radiation management escalated enforcement actions, the leaking petroleum storage tank map of the Division of Oil and Public Safety, and three EPA tools.

Where to look a site up

• The interactive records map and the records search, both linked from the division's records review page.
• CDPHE's Environmental maps and GIS data page describes the division's map portal and records search tool as an easy way to find facilities and their division records, and links a how-to guide and data dictionary and the CDPHE Open Data Portal. CDPHE says the GIS data is for informational purposes only and that accuracy is not guaranteed.

Getting the file

• How to ask. Use the records request form on the records review page, or write to cdphe_cora_hmwmd@state.co.us. The division says it responds to all requests within three business days.
• What to include. The name of the site or facility; the street address, or the nearest intersection or latitude and longitude; the title and date of the document if a specific record is wanted; and any other information about the site or incident that may help staff.
• What comes back. The Records Unit provides a link to a search result or a single document. Records can also be reviewed on site by appointment.
• What it costs. The first hour of scanning work is free, and jobs that take longer are charged $41.37 per hour under the department's open records policy. CDPHE charges the actual per-box retrieval fees for records stored offsite.

The department's Policy 2.17 says the Colorado Open Records Act requires records to be made available for inspection within three working days of a request, with an extension of seven working days for extenuating circumstances. The Act is at Colorado Revised Statutes section 24-72-201 and following. The contact number on the records review page is 303-692-3331, or 1-888-569-1831, extension 3331, from outside the 303 and 720 area codes.

Sources

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown:

• Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division records review
• How to find out if a site is contaminated
• Environmental maps and GIS data
• Public records
• Department Policy 2.17 Open Records, which carries the lines "Created February 2003", "Revised August 2015, August 2017" and an approval dated July 2024