Connecticut environmental records for a Phase I ESA
Connecticut programs
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection 19
- Underground Storage Tanks
- UST Clean-Up
- Release-Based Cleanup Program
- Property Transfer Program
- Voluntary Remediation Programs
- Contaminated or Potentially Contaminated Sites List
- State Superfund Program
- Significant Environmental Hazards
- RCRA Corrective Action, Closure, and Stewardship
- Brownfields Inventory
- Brownfield Liability Relief Programs
- Hazardous Waste
- Hazardous Waste Manifest Records
- Solid Waste
- Environmental Use Restrictions
- Emergency Response and Spill Prevention
- Environmental Quality Records Center (File Room)
- Release, Environmental Assessment, and Cleanup Tracker (REACT)
- Potable Water Program
A Phase I records review in Connecticut draws mostly on one state agency, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). Its pages cover tanks, cleanups, brownfields, hazardous waste, solid waste, spills and environmental use restrictions. The Department of Economic and Community Development shares the brownfield liability relief programs with DEEP. This page maps each kind of record ASTM E1527-21 asks for to the Connecticut program that holds it, and links a page on each program.
The standard record types, in Connecticut
| ASTM record type | Connecticut program | Agency |
|---|---|---|
| State Superfund equivalent | State Superfund Program | DEEP |
| State hazardous waste facilities | No single Connecticut list is paired here. The nearest pages are Hazardous Waste, Hazardous Waste Manifest Records and RCRA Corrective Action, Closure, and Stewardship. | DEEP |
| Landfills and solid waste sites | Solid Waste, which carries DEEP's list of active landfills | DEEP |
| Leaking storage tanks | UST Clean-Up | DEEP |
| Registered storage tanks | Underground Storage Tanks | DEEP |
| Institutional and engineering controls | Environmental Use Restrictions. The pairing is this handbook's reading: DEEP's pages do not use the words institutional control, engineering control or registry for them. | DEEP |
| Voluntary cleanup sites | Voluntary Remediation Programs | DEEP |
| Brownfields sites | Brownfields Inventory | DEEP |
How far each search reaches is on the ASTM search distances page.
Other Connecticut records worth reading
These are not on ASTM's standard list, but each answers a question a Connecticut Phase I runs into.
- Contaminated or Potentially Contaminated Sites List: one list that DEEP says draws on many of its cleanup programs.
- Release-Based Cleanup Program: the regulations for reporting, characterizing and cleaning up releases.
- Property Transfer Program: the program DEEP says sunset on March 1, 2026.
- Significant Environmental Hazards: hazard notices and the list of them.
- Brownfield Liability Relief Programs: the programs run with the Department of Economic and Community Development.
- Emergency Response and Spill Prevention: spill reporting and the spill datasets.
- Potable Water Program: DEEP's program for drinking water wells affected by human activity.
Where the records are searched
DEEP's pages name these three places to search, among others covered on the program pages, and the right one depends on the program and the year.
- The Release, Environmental Assessment, and Cleanup Tracker (REACT) is where DEEP says anyone can search for properties where releases have occurred and track cleanup progress. DEEP's Environmental Cleanup page (no modified date shown) says REACT holds documents uploaded by environmental professionals and that documents submitted before February 2026 are in the Online Document Search Portal. DEEP's General Information on Site Clean-up page, last modified August 20, 2026, says that, in general, documents submitted in 2026 should be accessible in REACT and that documents submitted before 2026 can be found in the DEEP Online Document Search Portal. The two pages give different cut-off dates, so check both places for anything submitted around the turn of 2026.
- The DEEP Document Online Search Portal, which DEEP's Records Center page (content last updated July 2024) says holds hazardous waste manifests, spill reports and associated documents, and remediation documents.
- The Environmental Quality Records Center, DEEP's file room, for files that are not in the portal. DEEP's Remediation Division Documents page, last modified March 18, 2026, says files for other programs, such as hazardous waste and solid waste, were not yet scanned and remain in the Records Center.
Connecticut's cleanup rules have been changing. DEEP's Property Transfer Program page, last modified April 13, 2026, says the program sunset on March 1, 2026 and that properties already in it continue under it unless they choose to move to the Release-Based Cleanup Program. Its Voluntary Remediation Programs page, last modified April 13, 2026, gives March 1, 2026 as the effective date of the Release-Based Cleanup Regulations. Read the dates on each program page, and ask DEEP which rules apply to a particular property rather than assuming one regime.
Getting a file from DEEP
A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. DEEP's Records Center page, content last updated July 2024, says the Records Center takes appointments through an online booking page, and that a File Request Form must be sent to DEEP.RecordsCenter@ct.gov at least 24 hours before the appointment so staff can prepare the files or provide them electronically as much as possible. The page gives its hours as Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and says public access closes for the day at 4:00 p.m. It says certified copies cost $1.00 for the first page and $.50 for each additional page.
The Records Center page also says the presence or absence of information in DEEP's files is not a guarantee of the presence or absence of environmental problems or violations at a site or facility. The pages read describe one written request route beyond the Records Center and the online portals: the emailed order form for manifest copies on DEEP's 2020 manifest page. See Hazardous Waste Manifest Records.
Sources
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection pages, read October 8, 2026:
- Environmental Quality Records Records Center File Room, no modified date shown; the page's footer reads "Content Last Updated July 2024".
- Environmental Cleanup, no modified date shown.
- General Information on Site Clean-up in Connecticut, last modified August 20, 2026.
- Remediation Division Files, last modified March 18, 2026.
- Property Transfer Program, last modified April 13, 2026.
- Voluntary Remediation Programs, last modified April 13, 2026.
- Connecticut Brownfield Remediation Liability Relief Programs, last modified March 12, 2026.