Ohio
Remedial Response Program
Ohio Remedial Response Program
The Remedial Response Program of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) identifies, assesses, investigates and oversees the cleanup of historical hazardous waste releases in Ohio. It is part of the Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization (DERR). Ohio EPA says the program was created in the late 1980s to address abandoned hazardous waste sites and landfills, and that its cleanup process is consistent with the federal National Contingency Plan (40 CFR Part 300).
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists state equivalents of the federal Superfund site lists among its standard sources. This handbook does not pair a single Ohio list with that type: Ohio EPA says its Master Sites List no longer exists, and that the DERR database is not a record of contaminated sites. This program is the Ohio cleanup work those records bear on. The general reading of a state Superfund listing is on the state Superfund equivalent page, and the distances the standard sets for each kind of record are on the search distances page.
Four details shape how to read a Remedial Response site.
- The paper is an order. The program works through Director's Final Findings and Orders (DFFOs). Consensual DFFOs are negotiated with the responsible party, which waives its right to appeal them. Unilateral DFFOs are issued without negotiation, generally where there is an immediate threat to human health and the environment. Ohio EPA can also ask the Attorney General's Office to bring a civil or criminal action.
- The remedy is in a Decision Document. After a remedial investigation and feasibility study, the program puts out a Preferred Plan for a 30-day public comment period and a public meeting. It then issues a Decision Document that presents the selected cleanup and the factors that led to it. Orders for remedial design and remedial action follow.
- A terminated order is a limited release. When all the work an order requires is complete, the responsible party may ask Ohio EPA to terminate it. Ohio EPA says the legal release provided by complying with an order is for the work performed under that order. Read the order's statement of work before treating a terminated order as the end of the matter.
- A voluntary cleanup can stand in. Ohio EPA says a site may be addressed through its Voluntary Action Program if a volunteer completes the work at an eligible property before the Director sends an enforcement letter.
Many cleanup plans include controls on land or resource use that are put in place through legal documents; see the Institutional and Engineering Controls lists. After construction, Ohio EPA inspects a remedy every year, starting one year after construction is complete, and may inspect less often if the remedy keeps meeting its performance standards.
The program is for historical releases. Ohio EPA says releases from existing, operational facilities may be regulated by its other divisions.
Where to look a site up
- Ohio EPA posts State Investigation/Cleanup Orders by year back to 1985, and State Cleanup Plans (Decision Documents) by year back to 1983. Entries link the document.
- DERR's DERR Sites App is an interactive map of the division's site locations and information.
- The agency's eDocument search holds DFFOs and judicial orders from January 1, 2007, and remediation reports from September 30, 2014.
- DERR is at 614-644-2924.
Getting the file
Ohio EPA says detailed information on the status of a site in the DERR database can be provided by the appropriate district office. It has no central repository: each division and district office stores its own files. For records that are not in eDocument search, use the online file review request form. Ohio EPA says the best first contact is the district office where the site is located.
Sources
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: