Mississippi
Uncontrolled Sites
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) defines an uncontrolled site as "a site, facility, plant, or location where hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants have been released into the environment and, due to existing regulations, there is no Federal program which can handle the problem." The Assessment & Remediation Branches (I & II) of its Groundwater Assessment and Remediation Division manage these sites.
In a Phase I ESA
MDEQ does not call its uncontrolled sites a state Superfund list. Because MDEQ defines them as sites where hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants have been released and no federal program can handle the problem, this handbook pairs them with the state Superfund equivalent record type that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source; that pairing is the handbook's reading. The general reading of a state Superfund listing is on the state Superfund equivalent page. Four Mississippi details shape how to read it.
- Responsible parties do the work. MDEQ says the Branches oversee planning and cleanup activities such as environmental assessments, remedial investigations and feasibility studies performed by responsible parties at contaminated sites.
- One set of procedures. MDEQ says that, to ensure consistency of cleanup, the Branches use the Brownfield Risk Evaluation Procedures. The Target Remediation Goals that MDEQ says its Risk Evaluation Procedures provide are described on the Target Remediation Goals (TRGs) page.
- Many sites still wait for evaluation. MDEQ's Voluntary Evaluation Program page says MDEQ has records of more than 2,000 sites that need additional evaluation, and that the Assessment/Remediation Branches are working with about 250 sites currently. The page gives no date for those numbers. Since MDEQ says that many sites in its records need additional evaluation, ask what stage a site's file has reached.
- A voluntary route exists. A party can apply to have the evaluation of a site expedited; see the Voluntary Evaluation Program.
Where to look a site up
- The division's Groundwater Assessment and Remediation page links a spreadsheet, the CERCLA/UCSS File List. The division's Brownfields page links the same file address as Mississippi's Brownfield Inventory Sites. This handbook did not open the file and does not say what it holds or what UCSS stands for.
- The same division page links an Online Site Map. This handbook did not open it. Its address sits under MDEQ's underground storage tank pages, and the pages read do not say what it shows.
- For more information on uncontrolled sites, MDEQ gives 601-961-5318 or 601-961-5217.
Getting the file
MDEQ's route is a written public records request that names the facility, the city and county where it is located, and the type of information wanted; see Public records requests.
Sources
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 12, 2026, no modified date shown: