North Dakota environmental records for a Phase I ESA
North Dakota programs
North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality 15
- Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program
- Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) registry
- Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Program
- Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund (PTRCF)
- Voluntary Response Actions (VRA)
- Brownfields Program
- Risk Based Corrective Action (NDRBCA)
- Hazardous Waste Program (HWP)
- Solid Waste Program (SWP)
- Spill Investigation Program
- Environmental Incident Reports
- Underground Injection Control (UIC)
- AFO/CAFO permits
- Environmental Audits
- Open Records Requests
A Phase I records review in North Dakota draws mainly on one state agency, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ says it consists of five divisions and numerous programs responsible for protecting the state's air and water resources, for ensuring the control of radiation, and for the proper disposal of waste. Its Division of Waste Management lists the hazardous waste, solid waste and underground storage tank programs among its programs; its Division of Water Quality lists spill investigation and underground injection control; and its Office of the Director lists the Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund and the Aboveground Storage Tank Program. Oil and gas records are the exception, set out below. This page maps each kind of record ASTM E1527-21 asks for to the North Dakota program that holds it, and links a page on each program.
The standard record types, in North Dakota
| ASTM record type | North Dakota program | Agency |
|---|---|---|
| State Superfund equivalent | No North Dakota list is paired here. The pages read name no state list of this kind, and DEQ's Data & Maps page says all hazardous waste compliance and superfund site data is available through EPA Region 8. | DEQ |
| State hazardous waste facilities | No single North Dakota list is paired here. DEQ's Permitted Facilities page lists each permittee and its permit type; see the Hazardous Waste Program (HWP) page. | DEQ |
| Landfills and solid waste sites | Solid Waste Program (SWP) | DEQ |
| Leaking storage tanks | Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) registry | DEQ |
| Registered storage tanks | Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program. DEQ says its UST facility list does not distinguish between aboveground and underground systems. See also the Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Program. | DEQ |
| Institutional and engineering controls | No single North Dakota list is paired here. DEQ's Open Records page links a list of Environmental Covenants through June 2026, and a list labelled "Archived Institutional Controls (Retired 12/31/2023, now Environmental Covenants and VRA)". The pages read do not describe either list or say whether it records engineering controls. See Open Records Requests. | DEQ |
| Voluntary cleanup sites | Voluntary Response Actions (VRA) | DEQ |
| Brownfields sites | Brownfields Program. The program page links a list of current and historic brownfield sites; DEQ's Data & Maps page says all brownfield site data is available through EPA Region 8. The pairing is the handbook's reading of the program page's link label; this handbook did not open the list. | DEQ |
How far each search reaches is on the ASTM search distances page.
Other North Dakota records worth reading
These are not paired with a record type in the table above, but each answers a question a North Dakota Phase I runs into.
- Spill Investigation Program: the duty to report every spill, including contamination found during a property transfer assessment, and when DEQ closes an incident.
- Environmental Incident Reports: the three spill databases and the years each covers.
- Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Fund (PTRCF): the registration required of every owner or operator of a petroleum storage tank, and the cleanup reimbursement.
- Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Program: the program for aboveground tanks, and where else they are recorded.
- Risk Based Corrective Action (NDRBCA): DEQ's approach to managing contaminant release sites, and its Tier 1 screening levels.
- Underground Injection Control (UIC): the Class I and Class V wells DEQ regulates, floor drains among them.
- AFO/CAFO permits: livestock operation permits, and the notice an owner receives when someone asks for the file.
- Environmental Audits: voluntary self-audits that an owner or a prospective owner may conduct.
- Open Records Requests: how to ask DEQ for a file, and what it charges.
One agency, with oil and gas elsewhere
DEQ points to the Oil and Gas Division for oilfield environmental incidents. Its Data & Maps page says the North Dakota Industrial Commission is the responsible authority on oilfield environmental incidents, and its Open Records page says DEQ does not maintain data for incidents that occur on oil field well pad sites. DEQ's Environmental Incident Reports page says that before 2021, environmental incidents were reported to three separate agencies: the Department of Emergency Services, DEQ, and the Oil and Gas Division of the Industrial Commission; its Data & Maps page names two, DEQ and the Oil and Gas Division. Incidents reported since January 1, 2021 are in one Unified Spill Reporting System. The Environmental Incident Reports page covers both periods.
Underground injection is divided the same way. DEQ regulates Class I and Class V wells. Its page says Class II and Class VI wells are regulated by the Oil and Gas Division and Class III wells by the North Dakota Geological Survey. Its Data & Maps page says the North Dakota Industrial Commission is responsible for all other classes.
DEQ's Open Records page also lists other agencies' records among those frequently requested: the Department of Mineral Resources - Oil and Gas Division, the Department of Emergency Services - Tier II Reporting page for hazardous and toxic chemical material inventories, and the Department of Water Resources - Map and Data Resources. DEQ's Data & Maps page says that, because of the large staff demands for open records, information available on Water Resources' site will not be provided in DEQ's open records response.
DEQ's records online
DEQ's Data & Maps page says it has made many of its records available online for self-serve, that it is not currently set up to provide data dumps, and that a good deal of its records are in paper form. Its Open Records page links the lists most of the pages below rely on: the Underground Storage Tank Registry, the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Registry, All Solid Waste Facilities, the Voluntary Response Actions and Environmental Covenants lists (each through June 2026), the Class I and Class V underground injection wells list (last updated June 2026), and the Environmental Incident Reports. DEQ asks that you check whether the information is on its website, available for download, before making a request.
For air quality and discharge permit records, DEQ points to CERIS-ND Open Records, the public view of its Combined Environmental Regulatory Information System, and notes that the records in CERIS-ND may not be complete.
Getting a file from DEQ
A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. DEQ takes open records requests at DEQOpenRecords@nd.gov, on its General Request Form for general records or its NDPDES Request Form for stormwater and discharge records. The Open Records Requests page sets out what DEQ asks a request to include and what it charges. Three points bear on a Phase I request:
- DEQ asks for current and historical site and business names, the property owner, present and historical use, and the county, township, range, section and latitude and longitude coordinates, and says: "Requests containing only a street address location are insufficient to perform a search, and will be returned to the sender."
- The Attorney General's page says anyone may ask for a public entity's records, wherever they live, and that the entity must answer within a reasonable time, which depends on such things as how much was asked for. DEQ asks you to allow at least two weeks.
- DEQ says its record search contains no evaluation of the potential environmental impact on the site, that no DEQ response is a Phase I assessment of the property, and that the absence of information on a parcel does not necessarily mean there are no environmental concerns connected with it.
Files may be reviewed in person at DEQ's offices during normal working hours. DEQ says no appointment is necessary, and asks that you call 701-328-5210 in advance to coordinate the review. DEQ's main office is at 4201 Normandy Street, Bismarck, ND 58503-1324, phone 701-328-5150.
Sources
North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:
- North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Water Quality - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Office of Director - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Waste Management - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Environmental Incident Reports - Spill Investigation - North Dakota DEQ
- Underground Injection
- Data and Maps - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Electronic Reporting - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
- Open Records Requests - North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
North Dakota Office of Attorney General page, read October 13, 2026:
- Requesting Public Records, last modified October 9, 2023.