Louisiana
Voluntary Remediation Program
The Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) is run by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). An applicant who completes an investigation and remediation under the program, following a Department-approved work plan, can receive a Certificate of Completion (COC). LDEQ says the COC releases the applicant and future site owners, successors and assigns of liability for all past contamination. LDEQ says the program was created in 1996.
In a Phase I ESA
VRP sites are the Louisiana form of the state voluntary cleanup records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a voluntary cleanup listing is on the VCP page. Four Louisiana details shape how to read one.
- Entering the program is not finishing it. An applicant must enter at the beginning of the investigation of a site. If the investigation finds that no remediation is needed, LDEQ issues a No Further Action at This Time letter. If remediation is needed, the applicant can stay in the program or leave it and use LDEQ's normal regulatory process. LDEQ says only sites investigated and remediated under the VRP are eligible for a COC, while a site cleaned up under the normal process is eligible for a No Further Action at This Time letter. Check which letter the file holds.
- The site is the applicant's definition. The applicant defines the site boundaries, and the investigation and remediation are limited to them. LDEQ says it still requires offsite contamination to be addressed, by the responsible party or by LDEQ, through its normal regulatory process. Compare the boundaries with the property in front of you. The application must give a legal description of the property, such as a survey, a description from the conveyance records or one from the assessor's office; LDEQ says an address or latitude and longitude alone is not adequate.
- Some completions rely on controls. A Partial Voluntary Remedial Action may use engineering controls, institutional controls or both. LDEQ says it must be protective for the intended use, and its use restrictions must be recorded in the parish records. Partial Voluntary Remedial Actions are open only to non-responsible persons as LAC 33:VI.903 defines them. See Conveyance Notices and Use Restrictions.
- Some sites cannot enter. LDEQ says all properties are eligible except sites on the National Priorities List or formally proposed for it, permitted hazardous waste management units (only the unit itself, where it sits inside a larger site), trust-fund-eligible underground storage tank sites, and sites with pending, unresolved federal environmental enforcement actions (not simply cost-recovery actions) related to the proposed voluntary remediation.
Public notice is part of the process. LDEQ requires a 30-day public notice of the Voluntary Remedial Action Plan, a newspaper notice, and direct notice to owners of immovable property contiguous to the site. The applications each carry a $500 application fee.
The authority is La. R.S. 30:2285 to 2290 and LAC 33:VI, Chapter 9.
Where to look a site up
- LDEQ links a list of enrolled sites, Louisiana VRP Sites - Public Record. The page says it is updated daily and that some sites employ institutional controls, as noted in the table.
- LDEQ calls a VRP Sites Public Record Key for Institutional Controls the key for that table. It is a PDF and was not opened for this handbook.
- Questions go to the mailbox _DEQ-VoluntaryRemediationProgram@LA.GOV.
Getting the file
LDEQ asks that correspondence name the site, the Agency Interest (AI) number if assigned, the physical address and the parish. LDEQ's routes to a file are its Electronic Document Management System, an online public records request form, and visits to its Public Records Center or a regional office. They are described on the Public Records Requests page.
Sources
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 8, 2026, no modified date shown: