Maryland
State Master List
The State Master List (SML) is a list the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) says it is required to maintain of potential hazardous waste sites in the state. MDE says it includes properties known by the State to be contaminated or potentially contaminated, and includes sites on the federal CERCLIS list.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists state Superfund equivalent sites among its standard sources. MDE's page does not call the State Master List a Superfund list, and MDE describes the Controlled Hazardous Substance Enforcement Division as its State Superfund Program, so this handbook pairs the SML with no record type. It is still a state list of sites. The pages read link no copy of the list itself: they point to the mapping site, mark entries in the county fact sheet lists "SML", and give a phone number for more information about the list.
Three points from MDE's page shape how to read it.
- It is not a Brownfields list. MDE says the State Master List is the only list it maintains, and that it should not be considered a list of Brownfields. MDE also says there are many sites that probably will qualify as Brownfields that are not on the State Master List.
- A site can be listed and no action planned. MDE says the Formerly Investigated Sites (FIS) list identifies State Master List sites for which MDE has determined, based on available information, that no further action by the State is planned.
- A site can be under investigation without being listed. MDE's glossary describes "Non-Master List" as including sites that are currently under investigation or have been previously investigated but are not listed on the State Master List.
MDE's fact sheet lists by county mark some entries with codes, and its glossary defines some of those codes. Its definition of SML is a site listed on MDE's State Master List, which includes sites currently identified by EPA's CERCLIS. See the resources and statistics page for the other codes.
MDE's Land Restoration Program page, in its paragraph on the Controlled Hazardous Substance Enforcement Division, refers to a Brownfield Master Inventory (BMI). The pages read do not say how it relates to the State Master List. The resources page links a report of active BMI sites and a report of archived BMI sites. This handbook did not read them.
Where to look a site up
- MDE says the Land Restoration Program's mapping site lets users search the state's database for information on Brownfields, Voluntary Cleanup Program and State Master List sites. See the project site mapping page.
- For more information about the list, MDE gives its phone number as 410-537-3493.
Getting the file
The pages read do not describe a records request route specific to State Master List sites. 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.