Ohio
Emergency Response (ER) spills and releases
Ohio Emergency Response (ER) spills and releases
Spills and environmental emergencies in Ohio are reported to the Office of Emergency Response (ER) of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), through a spill hotline that takes reports 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Ohio EPA says it records more than 5,000 incident reports a year from calls to the hotline by citizens, companies, law enforcement, emergency responders and other agencies.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name state spill lists among its standard record sources. The federal counterpart of a state spill list is the emergency response record described on the ERNS page. Four Ohio details shape how to use the state record.
- An incident can have two reports. Ohio EPA says ER compiles a report for each spill incident, the Initial Pollution Incident Report (IPIR), and that a District Office Investigation Report (DOIR) may go with it. Only an IPIR that has a DOIR is posted online. An IPIR without one, and the supporting documents behind any DOIR, take a records request.
- The reporting rule has two tests. Under release reporting rules that took effect on June 30, 1993, an owner or operator must report a release or spill of a regulated chemical when it exceeds the chemical's reportable quantity and leaves the facility property line. A release that stayed on the property may not have been reportable under those rules.
- Reports go to three places. Verbal notifications under those rules go to Ohio EPA's emergency response staff, to the local emergency planning district that may be affected, and to the fire department with jurisdiction. The rules belong to the State Emergency Response Commission, which administers Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3750.
- Tanks are with another agency. Ohio EPA lists petroleum and fuel underground storage tanks among the matters it does not regulate. See underground storage tank releases.
What the record shows
Ohio EPA says its public data set of spills and releases reported to the agency includes the spill site and the products released.
Where to look a site up
- The data set is Ohio EPA Emergency Response Spills and Releases, linked from the Emergency Response page.
- In the agency's eDocument search, an IPIR is filed under the document type Incident Report and a DOIR under Investigation Report.
- The non-emergency number for the ER program is 614-644-3194. The hotline, for reporting a spill, is 1-800-282-9378 or 614-224-0946.
Getting the file
ER says a requester may ask for copies of individual incident records, a database search, a file review, or any of the three. For a database search it asks for as much of the following as possible:
- the name of the company or previous owner;
- the incident ID number;
- the township or county;
- the address.
Give earlier owners' and operators' names as well as the current one. For the request itself, ER points to Ohio EPA's public records process, which runs through the online file review request form.
Sources
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: