Maine

File Room, Reports and Lists

Agency Maine Department of Environmental Protection

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) keeps paper files in a file room in Augusta, open by appointment, and scanned files in online document portals. Its Office of Policy manages Freedom of Access (FOA) records requests for the department. DEP's page on obtaining public records says that if a request relates to a DEP program or a specific project, the place to start is a DEP staff person, since staff are most familiar with the files, documents and records that may be available.

In a Phase I ESA

A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. Five details from DEP's pages shape how to get one.

The file room's paper files cover many programs. DEP lists asbestos abatement, brownfields, generators, hazardous and non-hazardous waste manifests and transporters, insurance fund coverage claims, landfills, oil remediation and resolution, oil terminal facilities, RCRA, sludge and residuals facilities, solid waste facilities (licensed and closed), spill files, treatment storage disposal facilities, uncontrolled sites, underground storage tanks, VRAP, waste oil facilities, and wastewater treatment and sludge. Only finalized documents may be viewed there.
Records are moving online. DEP's Administrative Record for remediation sites was on paper until February 2021, and the one for solid waste licenses until December 2022. DEP is moving both to electronic form, says many remediation sites have a mix of paper and electronic files, and says not all files have been scanned to the online portals. If a search of the portals finds nothing, DEP says to call the file room.
Book ahead with a list. Appointments run Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. DEP asks that you call (207) 287-7843 to schedule, give the file room a list of the files you want so that they are ready on the day, or email the list to brwmfileroom.dep@maine.gov.
A formal request may cost. If the information cannot be found otherwise, DEP's page says to contact its FOA Coordinator, at foaarequest.dep@maine.gov, who may be able to help find it or assist with a formal FOA request. DEP says a formal request may take some time and may involve charges for staff time spent producing records. The page links the state's general information on Maine's Freedom of Access Act.
What the state's FAQ says the law sets. The state's Freedom of Access Act FAQ says a requester does not have to be a Maine citizen, since the Act gives the right to inspect and copy public records to a person. An agency must acknowledge a request within 5 working days of receiving it, and must give a good faith estimate, not binding, of the time it will need within a reasonable time of receiving it, and the records are due within a reasonable period of time, which the FAQ says need not fall within those 5 days. Within 5 working days of receipt, an agency must deny the request and give its reason, or say that some or all of the records may be denied after they are found and reviewed. If it sends neither, the FAQ calls that a failure to allow inspection or copying, which can be appealed. The FAQ adds that an agency may charge $25 an hour for staff time after the first two hours of a request, must tell the requester before going ahead when its cost estimate passes $50, and may ask for payment in advance when it passes $100.
The map is not the file. DEP says its GIS data is for visual representation only and may not contain all the data available by contacting DEP directly, and that anyone making detailed decisions from geospatial data should obtain original copies of the data.

Where to look a site up

The File Room Database for Paper Records searches the paper files.
DEP's online portals hold scanned finalized oil and hazardous spill reports and spill projects; underground and aboveground storage tanks, active and out of service; hazardous waste manifests; remediation site documents for the Brownfields, Closed Municipal Landfills, Federal Facilities, RCRA Corrective Action and Closure, Superfund, Uncontrolled Sites and VRAP programs; and solid waste licensing files. Each opens to a query page that takes criteria such as spill number, manifest number, town or facility, and an asterisk works as a wildcard. All are linked from the File Room, Reports and Lists page.
The same page links DEP's lists: the Division of Remediation Sites List, solid waste facility lists, the spill reports master list, transporter lists, tank reports, and downloadable tables from DEP's tanks and spill databases. This handbook did not open the search, the portals or the lists.

Getting the file

File room. By appointment at (207) 287-7843, or email the list of files wanted to brwmfileroom.dep@maine.gov.
Freedom of Access. DEP's FOA Coordinator, at foaarequest.dep@maine.gov.
Office. DEP's pages give its address as 17 State House Station, 28 Tyson Drive, Augusta, Maine 04333-0017, and its main line as 207-287-7688. DEP's offices are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except state holidays, and DEP asks that you call the regional office to schedule a meeting with a staff person.

Sources

Maine Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

Maine Freedom of Access Act: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)