Iowa

DNR Records Center and Document Search

Agency Iowa Department of Natural Resources

The Iowa DNR Records Center in Des Moines is open for the public to view the open records of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) relating to environmental and conservation interests, and DNR's Document Search Web Application puts records from a list of its programs online. 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.

In a Phase I ESA

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

Document Search

DNR's Document Search Web Application searches by program, city, county or facility name, in one program or in all of them. The programs DNR lists are:

Air Quality; Legal - Administrative Orders;
Land Quality - Contaminated Sites, Comprehensive Planning, Dam Safety, Flood Plains, LUST, UST, Redemption Center, Solid Waste Permitting, and Solid Waste Alternatives Program (SWAP);
Water Quality - NPDES, Biosolids Annual Reports; Private Wells; Stormwater; Time of Transfer; Water Supply; Water Use.

DNR says more programs will be added soon. For tank sites, DNR's search tips are Program LUST or UST, Facility ID the registration number, and Program ID the LUST number. For enforcement orders, DNR says to select "Enforcement Orders" from the program dropdown. The Open Records Request page lists the program as Legal - Administrative Orders.

The same page lists electronic records available for these programs, among them the Contaminated Sites database, the Field Office Compliance Database, the Permitted Facilities Explorer, Solid Waste Permitting, Time of Transfer and Underground Storage Tanks.

How to ask

In person. The 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.
Through the state portal. 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. The page links both a form to request a public record and a search of released information and records.
By email or mail. Requests may also be made by email to dnr.records.request@dnr.iowa.gov, or by mail.

How long it takes

DNR's pages give no response time. The Iowa Public Information Board, whose jurisdiction covers Chapter 22, said in its advisory opinion 22AO:0004 (August 18, 2022) that the chapter sets no time for answering a records request. The one time limit it does set covers a good faith delay to decide whether a confidential record should be released: no more than twenty calendar days, and ordinarily no more than ten business days. The Board cites the Iowa Supreme Court's reading that this is not a deadline for producing records, and that records are still owed promptly, unless a request is too large or of a kind that makes prompt delivery infeasible. It expects a custodian to acknowledge a request within its first few business days, with word of any fees and a timeline, and to release records as they become available unless the requester asks otherwise.

Cost

Payment for all copies must be made before the copies are received; DNR accepts cash, check, Visa, Mastercard and Discover. Estimates are made from DNR's Schedule of Fees, linked from the same page, and exact costs for a request are given after it is completed.

Where requests are made specific

For a Registry site, DNR says the assessment file is available through the Records Center. See Registry of Hazardous Waste or Hazardous Substance Disposal Sites.
For a UST or LUST site, DNR says to contact the Records Center if the records cannot be found in Document Search. See Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites.

Sources

Iowa Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 12, 2026:

Open Records Request, last modified March 13, 2026.
Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites, last modified September 21, 2026.
Leaking Underground Tanks, last modified August 27, 2026.
Enforcement Actions, last modified September 10, 2025.
Site Registry, last modified December 23, 2025.

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.