Georgia EPD Online System (GEOS) and file reviews

The Georgia EPD Online System (GEOS) is the web portal the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) introduced in December 2014 for the regulated community to submit permit applications, reports and fee payments. Its Public Inquiry Portal lets the public see submitted documents. What is not in GEOS is reached by a file review appointment or an open records request.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state's records request procedure among its standard record sources. This is EPD's route to the reports and letters behind the Georgia listings in this section.

• GEOS holds the later records. How far back it goes depends on the program. For underground storage tanks, EPD says electronic records for facility documents dated 2019 to the current year may be found there. For the Voluntary Remediation Program, documents received after July 1, 2019 are uploaded, with certain earlier ones. Brownfield and voluntary remediation applications and reporting have been required through GEOS since July 1, 2020, and solid waste permit applications since September 1, 2019. For older records, plan on a paper file.
• No account is needed to look. EPD's voluntary remediation page says an account is not required to view documents: select the Public Inquiry Portal icon. The portal is organized by submittal. Choose the program, then the category; the categories are explained on the Voluntary Remediation Program page. EPD's response documents are on the Issuance tab of the submittal record.
• The paper files are in two offices. The downtown office holds files for hazardous waste, brownfields, the Voluntary Remediation Program and related programs. The Tradeport office holds files for underground storage tanks, solid waste, lead and asbestos and related programs.
• Old tank files take time. EPD says tank facility files dated 2008 to 2018 are available only in hard copy at the Tradeport location, and that most files from before 2008 have been archived offsite and need additional time for retrieval.

The programs EPD lists in GEOS include Underground Storage Tank, Brownfield, Voluntary Remediation Program, Solid Waste Management, Underground Injection Control and the scrap tire programs.

A file review appointment

EPD asks that you make an appointment if you know which records or files you want to review. Appointments are requested by email, with one address for the downtown office and one for the Tradeport office; both are on EPD's Land Branch Open Records Requests page.

Once a request is received, a file review form is generated. If files must be retrieved from the records center, EPD asks you to allow 7 to 10 days. These rules of the file review area apply at both offices:

• No travel drives or other personal media may be connected to the computers or copier. Reviewers may bring their own scanners and may photograph documents with a cell phone.
• Black and white copies are $0.10 per single-sided sheet and color copies are $0.20 per sheet. A CD can be copied for $1.00 and a DVD for $5.00.
• Cash in the exact amount and checks are accepted. Copies are held until they are paid for.

For files that are available electronically, EPD says flash drives can be bought for a small fee, and only state supplied flash drives may be used.

An open records request

EPD says that under the Georgia Open Records Act all public records are available for inspection and copying unless they are specifically exempted from disclosure under the law. Since March 30, 2026, EPD requires members of the public to submit requests through its Open Records Request Portal and not to the email address it used before. After the first 15 minutes, fees are assessed for the search, retrieval, duplication and supervised inspection of the requested documents.

Where to look a site up

• GEOS, then the Public Inquiry Portal.
• EPD's eServices page also links its air permit search, its water quality monitoring database, its drinking water database and its complaint search. The complaint search is on the Emergency Response and complaint records page.

Getting the file

• Open Records Request Portal, for a Georgia Open Records Act request.
• Land Branch Open Records Requests, for the appointment email addresses.
• File Review Procedures, for the rules and costs above.

Sources

Georgia Environmental Protection Division pages, read October 7, 2026:

• GEOS Training and Technical Assistance, last modified October 5, 2026.
• eServices, last modified March 30, 2026.
• Voluntary Remediation, last modified August 14, 2026.
• UST File Reviews, last modified March 14, 2022.
• Land Branch Open Records Requests, last modified July 29, 2026.
• File Review Procedures, last modified May 20, 2021.