Access Public Records

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) explains how to get its records on its Access Public Records page, and points requesters to its File Review Checklist Form. It says its records are generally public unless Ohio law exempts them, and that Ohio's public records law, Ohio Revised Code 149.43, is separate from the federal Freedom of Information Act.

In a Phase I ESA

A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. The pages on each Ohio program point to this route. Ohio EPA says many records are available through its eDocument search; see eDocument Search (eDoc) for which kinds and from what dates. For the others, three points shape a request.

• Ask for documents. Ohio EPA's tips set a request for information apart from a public records request, which asks for a specific document the agency holds. It will not create a document: when the facts you want are spread over several documents, ask for each and put them together yourself.
• Narrow the dates. Ohio EPA says the date range is often what matters most, and that a limited range often brings the records sooner.
• A vague request can be refused. An ambiguous or overly broad request may be denied. Ohio EPA says it then offers a chance to revise it by explaining how it keeps and finds its records, usually with the checklist.

How to ask

• The form. Ohio EPA strongly recommends its online form, saying it helps you describe the documents and helps the agency know where to look. The form loads by script, and the copy this handbook read shows its title, not its questions.
• No form, writing or name is required. Any wording will do if the agency can tell which records you mean, and it will contact you if it cannot. You need not use the checklist, write the request down, or say who you are or why you ask, though the page still suggests writing every request so the files can be identified, found and tracked.
• What happens next. A request is routed to the program offices concerned to secure the files. Once they are found, Ohio EPA contacts you to have copies made or to set a time to review them.
• Which office. Ohio EPA has no central repository for all its records; each division and district office stores its own files. The page names the district office where the facility or site lies as the best first contact for a file review, and asks for the online form when a matter crosses divisions or district offices, or when you are unsure where the facility is.

Under File Review Contacts the page lists five offices, each with a named contact. It refers to a map for choosing one, an image of the district service areas that this handbook did not open, so each office's area is not given here.

• Ohio EPA Central Office, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049
• Northeast District Office, 2110 E. Aurora Road, Twinsburg, Ohio 44087
• Southeast District Office, 2195 Front Street, Logan, Ohio 43138
• Northwest District Office, 347 N. Dunbridge Road, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
• Southwest District Office, 220 E. Monument Ave., Suite 400, Dayton, Ohio 45402

For help, Ohio EPA gives 614-644-3037 and edoc.support@epa.ohio.gov.

What is held back

Ohio EPA says some documents are not public records at all, and some public records are exempt: it names trial preparation records, confidential law enforcement investigatory records, records state or federal law bars from release, and homeland security records. Communications between attorney and client are the largest group the law bars, it says, and trade secrets another; a company asks for trade secret protection, and Ohio EPA decides whether the material qualifies. Where only part of a record is exempt, that part may be redacted and the rest released, and Ohio EPA says it will tell you of each redaction or make it plainly visible, with an explanation citing legal authority.

Time, cost and the law

Ohio EPA says it receives thousands of requests a year, and that the time one takes depends on how many records it covers, how near they are stored, and whether they need legal review and redaction. Records can be inspected during regular business hours, except on published holidays. The pages read give no copy charges. Ohio Revised Code 149.43 sets the rest.

• Who may ask. Section 149.43(B)(1) gives the right to any person who asks, subject to division (B)(8), which concerns people incarcerated under a criminal conviction or a juvenile adjudication who ask for records of a criminal investigation or prosecution. Ohio EPA's page speaks of it as a right of citizens. Under (B)(4), unless state or federal law specifically requires or authorizes it, or division (B) provides for it, an office may not make the requester give a name or say what the records are for; under (B)(5) it may ask for either, or for a written request, only after saying the requester can decline and how answering would help it identify, find or deliver the records.
• How long. The section sets no number of days for making records available. Records are to be prepared promptly and made available for inspection at all reasonable times during regular business hours, and copies are to be made at cost within a reasonable period of time.
• The medium. Under (B)(6), the requester chooses paper, the medium the office keeps the record in, or another medium the office decides it can reasonably use in its normal work, and the office may require the cost of the copy in advance.
• Ten records a month for commercial use. Under (B)(7)(c), an office that adopts a policy for sending copies may cap at ten a month the records it sends one requester by mail or another delivery service, and may set the same cap on digital copies of records it already posts on a free, always open public website. Neither cap applies when the requester certifies in writing that the records, and what they contain, will not be used or passed on for commercial purposes. Ohio EPA's pages read do not say whether it has such a policy.
• A refusal is explained. Under (B)(3), a request denied in whole or in part gets an explanation that cites the legal authority, in writing if the request was written.

Tank records from BUSTR

The Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations (BUSTR), in the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of State Fire Marshal, takes its own records requests. Its Search BUSTR Database page says OTTER Engage replaced the OTTER database, taken down on July 22, 2025, and that records requests, like registrations, permits and corrective action reports, must now go through it, with no paper accepted. Its Public Records Request page says to ask about a specific release by filing a Public Records Request service request there. It recommends an OHID account so requests can be tracked, and links job aids for filing with and without one; the database page's sign-up steps call an account required, so the two pages differ. BUSTR is at 8895 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068, (614) 752-7938 or (800) 686-2878, and Web.BUSTR@com.ohio.gov.

Sources

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 14, 2026:

• Access Public Records, no modified date shown.
• File Review Checklist Form, no modified date shown.

Ohio Department of Commerce pages, read October 14, 2026:

• Public Records Request (PRR) & Database Search, no modified date shown.
• Search BUSTR Database, no modified date shown.
• Contact Information, no modified date shown.

Ohio Department of Commerce page, read October 6, 2026:

• Corrective Action (Clean Up), no modified date shown.

Ohio Laws page, read October 13, 2026:

• Section 149.43, Ohio Revised Code, last modified June 15, 2026; the section shown is effective September 7, 2026.