Maryland
Controlled Hazardous Substance Enforcement Division
The Controlled Hazardous Substance (CHS) Enforcement Division is part of the Land Restoration Program of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). MDE says it is also known as the State Superfund Program. MDE says it oversees the assessment and cleanup of historically contaminated hazardous waste sites that have not been placed on the National Priorities List, and oversees environmental remediation at sites throughout Maryland with primary emphasis on the Brownfield Master Inventory (BMI), which MDE describes as a list of sites known or reported to be contaminated by hazardous waste.
In a Phase I ESA
MDE says the CHS Enforcement Division is also known as the State Superfund Program, so this handbook reads its site records as the Maryland form of the state Superfund equivalent records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The pairing is this handbook's reading: the pages read name a Brownfield Master Inventory, a State Master List, a list of State Remediation Sites and a Disposal Site Registry, and do not say which of them is the State Superfund list. The general reading of that listing is on the state Superfund equivalent page. The pages read do not say how the Brownfield Master Inventory relates to the State Master List, which MDE describes separately.
MDE says the Division also:
- oversees cleanups by responsible persons, and itself assesses and cleans up sites when no responsible person exists or the person is unable or unwilling to do the work;
- participates in the oversight of federal National Priorities List sites;
- assesses property on Brownfields, and performs preliminary assessments and site investigations under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
How a site moves through it
MDE says the Hazardous Substances Response Plan sets the framework, under Section 7-222 of the Environment Article and COMAR 26.14. The work has three phases: Assessment, Cleanup, and Operation and Monitoring. In the assessment phase the Division requires a work plan, and the assessment components MDE lists include contaminants in soil, groundwater and indoor air on and off the site, and the extent of any plume. In the cleanup phase a Feasibility Study of remedial alternatives is reviewed and approved, and the Division selects the remedy. MDE says it may issue enforcement orders to ensure the remedial action is properly implemented, and may seek cost recovery.
MDE mentions a Disposal Site Registry. Its description is of the notice MDE must publish where a cleanup is funded entirely by the Hazardous Substance Control Fund. The pages read do not link or describe a list by that name.
Technical review service
For a fee, the Division can review environmental documents, including investigation and remediation reports and work plans, on written request. MDE says the findings come back as a letter whose content can range from a "No Further Action" determination to detailed comments and land use restriction requirements. It says a review can be done before or with a Voluntary Cleanup Program application, and that reviews take two to four weeks.
Where to look a site up
- MDE's page says the list of State Remediation Sites of current public interest can be found on a webpage it links, and that additional sites may be found on the LRP-MAP mapping site and the program's fact sheet page. The address it gives for the list leads to the Land Restoration Program's main page.
- The Division's phone number is 410-537-3493.
Getting the file
The page read does not describe a records request route for the Division's files. MDE's Public Information Act requests page covers requests for MDE records in general.
Sources
Maryland Department of the Environment pages, read October 8, 2026. The pages show no modified date.