Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP)

The Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) is run by the Ground Water Quality Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). It gives owners, operators and prospective buyers a way to clean up a contaminated property, or one thought to be contaminated, under NMED oversight and so clear the way for its reuse. A participant that finishes receives closure documentation from NMED, and lenders and future buyers receive liability protection. The program's rules are 20.6.3 NMAC.

In a Phase I ESA

VRP sites are the New Mexico form of the state voluntary cleanup records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a voluntary cleanup listing is on the VCP page. Four New Mexico details shape how to read one.

• The certificate comes in two kinds. Once the completion report is approved and oversight charges paid, NMED issues a Certificate of Completion. Where monitoring, engineering controls, land use restrictions or other care after closure is still needed, it issues a Conditional Certificate of Completion instead, and NMED's hourly oversight can continue to check compliance with it. The pages read name no separate registry of these conditions, so ask for the certificate itself.
• The covenant covers stated contamination. A Covenant Not to Sue is open to a participant that applied before buying the site and did not contribute to the contamination, and later owners may ask for one by showing title and confirming they know the certificate's terms. NMED says it covers liability for the contamination the Voluntary Remediation Agreement covers, not claims by third parties, and that NMED and EPA both release the owner under a memorandum of agreement. Read the certificate and covenant for the contamination and media they cover.
• An entry is not a cleanup. After a complete application NMED has 30 days to decide conditional eligibility. A 30-day public notice follows, then the signed agreement, a work plan and the work. Ask which step a listed site has reached.
• A site can enter with nothing to clean up. NMED says the program lets a participant show that a site has no contamination, and admits sites already investigated or cleaned up at its discretion. A property affected or threatened only by groundwater contamination from elsewhere can enter to show it is not responsible, though NMED notes the owner may still have to mitigate vapor from it that harms indoor air.

Who may apply

The FAQ says an applicant must own the site, operate a facility on it, or be a prospective owner or operator, and that a non-owner needs the owner's written consent. An applicant may be ineligible where a permit is required for the contamination, an enforcement action is pending, or an applicant has a history of environmental non-compliance (20.6.3.200.A NMAC).

The application carries a $1,000 fee that is not refunded, and must come with maps of the site and its vicinity, the site's legal description, a Preliminary Voluntary Remediation Work Plan, and a current Phase I ESA report or its equivalent. The FAQ asks for a Phase I conducted in conformance with the current ASTM E1527, and says the rules allow an equivalent assessment meeting the minimum specifications of 20.6.3.200.B(3) NMAC. After the agreement is signed, NMED charges for oversight by the hour; the FAQ gives the current rate as $125 an hour, reviewed each year. The applicant pays for the public notice: a sign at the site, legal and display ads in two newspapers, and notice to local officials.

Where to look a site up

• The Ground Water Quality Bureau's Clean-ups page links a List of VRP sites as an Excel file and a PDF, which this handbook did not open.
• The Voluntary Remediation Program page links the application and the FAQ. The Bureau's line is 505-827-2900 and its general mailbox is gwqb.general@env.nm.gov.

Getting the file

NMED takes records requests under the Inspection of Public Records Act through its Public Records Requests page: by its online portal, which needs no account, by mail to P.O. Box 5469, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502, or by telephone at (505) 827-2855. The Public records requests page here gives what a request must hold and the fees. The application includes a Phase I, so a VRP file can hold an earlier assessment of the site.

Sources

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

• Voluntary Remediation Program
• Voluntary Remediation Program Frequently Asked Questions
• Clean-ups
• Laws and Regulations
• Public Records Requests