Iowa environmental records for a Phase I ESA
Iowa programs
Iowa Department of Natural Resources 16
- Underground storage tank registrations
- Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites
- Land Recycling Program (LRP)
- Registry of Hazardous Waste or Hazardous Substance Disposal Sites
- Contaminated Sites Database
- Brownfield Redevelopment Program
- Solid waste facilities
- Hazardous waste fee collection
- Environmental covenants and institutional controls
- Spill reports
- Tier 2 chemical inventory reporting
- Enforcement orders
- Time of Transfer inspections
- Animal Feeding Operations Database
- Private Well Program
- DNR Records Center and Document Search
A Phase I records review in Iowa draws mainly on one state agency, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). DNR says its Environmental Services Division protects Iowa's land, air and water, and its Land Quality pages hold the tank, contaminated site, brownfield and solid waste programs. Hazardous waste is the exception, set out below. This page maps each kind of record ASTM E1527-21 asks for to the Iowa program that holds it, and links a page on each program.
The standard record types, in Iowa
| ASTM record type | Iowa program | Agency |
|---|---|---|
| State Superfund equivalent | The Registry of Hazardous Waste or Hazardous Substance Disposal Sites is a state list of sites classified by their priority for remedial action, kept under the Code of Iowa. Pairing it with this record type is the handbook's reading, not DNR's. See also the Contaminated Sites Database. | DNR |
| State hazardous waste facilities | No single Iowa list is paired here. DNR says the state does not currently administer the federal RCRA Subtitle C program; EPA Region 7 manages it. The nearest DNR page is hazardous waste fee collection, which covers facilities EPA regulates under that program. | DNR |
| Landfills and solid waste sites | Solid waste facilities | DNR |
| Leaking storage tanks | Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites | DNR |
| Registered storage tanks | Underground storage tank registrations | DNR |
| Institutional and engineering controls | No single Iowa list is paired here. The pages read name no registry of controls. DNR's environmental covenants and institutional controls page describes the model environmental covenant DNR drafted for use in its LUST and LRP programs, and says environmental covenants are among the documents filed with the county recorder's office. | DNR |
| Voluntary cleanup sites | Land Recycling Program (LRP). DNR names no list of LRP sites; the pairing is the handbook's reading. | DNR |
| Brownfields sites | No single Iowa list is paired here. DNR says it does not designate a property as a brownfield. See the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. | DNR |
How far each search reaches is on the ASTM search distances page.
Other Iowa records worth reading
These are not paired with a record type in the table above, but each answers a question an Iowa Phase I runs into.
- Contaminated Sites Database: sites that are not petroleum UST related, where DNR reviewed assessment data or gave regulatory direction or oversight.
- Spill reports: the hazardous condition report, its six-hour deadline and DNR's spills search.
- Enforcement orders: administrative and consent orders, and where to find them.
- Tier 2 chemical inventory reporting: chemical storage reports and who DNR says can see them.
- Time of Transfer inspections: septic system inspections required before a sale.
- Animal Feeding Operations Database: confinements and open feedlots, and DNR's chart of manure discharges.
- Private Well Program: well permits, plugging reports and well records.
- DNR Records Center and Document Search: where DNR's files are viewed and requested.
One agency, with hazardous waste at EPA
DNR's Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites page says Iowa does not currently administer the federal RCRA Subtitle C program, and that EPA Region 7, in Kansas City, Kansas, manages it. DNR points to EPA Region 7's RCRA web page for more information on the program. DNR's fees page says Section 455B.424 of the Iowa Code requires small and large quantity generators, and anyone that treats, stores, disposes of or transports hazardous waste in Iowa, to complete a state fee form and pay the fee, and that the fees are based on data provided by EPA.
DNR also says the state cooperates with EPA in the federal Superfund program, including its emergency removal and remedial components, and in a program referred to as "pre-remedial", designed to evaluate sites for eligibility for the remedial portion of that program.
For tanks, DNR's Underground Storage Tanks Section regulates underground storage tank systems, and its Leaking Underground Storage Tank team oversees the assessment and cleanup of releases from petroleum underground storage tanks. DNR describes its tank database as holding underground tanks, leaking underground tanks and aboveground tanks, and only registered tank sites. DNR says all activities of the former Iowa Comprehensive Petroleum Underground Storage Tank (UST) Fund are coordinated with its UST Section.
One search that crosses DNR's programs
DNR's Document Search Web Application searches DNR's electronic records by program, city, county or facility name, in one program or in all of them. The programs DNR lists include Land Quality - Contaminated Sites, LUST, UST and Solid Waste Permitting, Legal - Administrative Orders, and Water Quality - Private Wells and Time of Transfer, and DNR says more will be added. Start there when you have a facility name.
DNR's Spills & Emergency Planning page points to the state's Facility Explorer to find what facilities are located in a neighborhood. DNR's records page lists it as the Permitted Facilities Explorer.
Getting a file from DNR
A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. DNR's Records Center is at 6200 Park Ave, Suite 200, Des Moines, Iowa 50321, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except state holidays.
- DNR's Open Records Request page says any person may submit a request to inspect public records to the Office of the Chief Information Officer through the Iowa Information and Public Records Request Portal, which the page links along with a search of released information and records.
- Requests may also be made in person at a record center, by email to dnr.records.request@dnr.iowa.gov, or by mail.
- Payment for copies must be made before the copies are received. Estimates use DNR's Schedule of Fees, linked from the same page, and exact costs are given after the request is completed.
DNR cites Chapter 22 of the Iowa Code and Chapter 2 of 561 Iowa Administrative Code for the rule that all government records are open to the public, except for a few specific exceptions. The Iowa Public Information Board says Chapter 22 sets no time for answering a request, apart from a limit on delays to decide whether a confidential record should be released. It cites the Iowa Supreme Court's reading that records are owed promptly unless a request is too large or of a kind that makes prompt delivery infeasible, and says the custodian should acknowledge a request within its first few business days.
Sources
Iowa Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 12, 2026:
- Environmental Protection, last modified February 24, 2025.
- Land Quality, last modified February 26, 2025.
- Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites, last modified September 21, 2026.
- Site Registry, last modified December 23, 2025.
- Fees, last modified April 21, 2026.
- Environmental Covenant, last modified April 3, 2025.
- Brownfield Redevelopment, last modified February 12, 2025.
- Underground Storage Tanks, last modified October 1, 2026.
- Leaking Underground Tanks, last modified August 27, 2026.
- Storage Tank Management Account Financing Program, last modified June 2, 2025.
- Spills & Emergency Planning, last modified August 6, 2026.
- Open Records Request, last modified March 13, 2026.
Iowa Public Information Board page, read October 13, 2026:
- 22AO:0004 Timeliness of responding to record requests, issued August 18, 2022, last modified November 28, 2023.