Public records requests

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) answers requests for its records under NMSA 1978, Sections 14-2-1 to -12, the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA), which NMED cites as amended through 2023. NMED says the Act gives every person the right to inspect its public records, subject to certain exceptions. NMED asks that every request be sent to its Public Records Custodian.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state's records request procedure among its standard record sources. This is NMED's route to the reports and letters behind the NMED listings in this section. Four details shape a request.

• Ask for records, not explanations. NMED says a request for the reasons behind an NMED action, or for answers to questions, is not a proper request under the Act. Name the records you want.
• Put it in writing. NMED accepts a request spoken or written, but says the Act's procedures and penalties reach only written requests.
• Describe the records closely. A request must give the requester's name, address and telephone number and describe the records well enough for the custodian to identify and find them.
• Know the clock. NMED says the custodian must allow inspection at once or as soon as practicable, and no later than 15 calendar days after receiving the request. If inspection is not allowed within 3 business days, the requester gets a written answer saying when the records will be ready or when NMED will respond. A denial comes in writing, with its reasons, within 15 calendar days.

Where to look a site up

Some NMED records can be reached before a request is needed:

• For petroleum tank sites, NMED says the features of its GoNM map link to Resource Space, where site documents can be reviewed and downloaded. The Petroleum Storage Tank Bureau's reports page sends questions about facilities and owners to this request route.
• For permitted hazardous waste facilities, the Hazardous Waste Bureau links its Permit Management Program Electronic Files.
• For a septic system, NMED says to ask the local field office for the permit file once the permit number is known. NMED's liquid waste permit database page says the database falls under the Act, and requires anyone searching it to accept the conditions of NMSA 1978 14-3-15.1 first (see Liquid waste permits and property transfer evaluations).
• For air quality in Bernalillo County, NMED's records page says it has no jurisdiction and gives (505) 768-1972, the number of the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department.

Getting the file

• Online. NMED's Public Records Request Portal goes straight to the Public Records Custodian. NMED calls it the fastest and easiest route and says no account is needed.
• By mail. P.O. Box 5469, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502, to the Public Records Custodian.
• By telephone. (505) 827-2855.

The custodian may ask for fees to be paid before the records are made available, and NMED gives a receipt for fees paid in advance.

Fees

NMED's page sets these charges:

Sources

New Mexico Environment Department pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

• Public Records Requests
• Maps and Data
• Public Outreach, Reports and Lists
• Permitted Facilities
• Property Transfer Evaluations
• Find an Existing Liquid Waste Permit