Ohio
Targeted Brownfield Assessment (TBA) Program
Ohio Targeted Brownfield Assessment (TBA) Program
The Targeted Brownfield Assessment (TBA) Program of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) provides property assessment services at no cost to eligible applicants. Ohio Brownfields, the Ohio EPA program that coordinates it, has retained contractors to do the work, and the applicant receives a written report of what was done.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name this program among its standard record sources. It matters because a property that went through it already has assessment work on paper, and that work may sit with a local government and not with the owner.
- The applicant may not be the owner. The program is open only to a local government, quasi-government or non-profit entity that is not a potentially responsible party. The applicant does not need to own the property, but the owner must give signed consent to access it. The written report goes to the applicant, so ask the city, county or land bank for it.
- The property has to qualify. It must be a brownfield, meaning a former industrial or commercial property, or a residential one with more than four units. It must not be subject to federal CERCLA orders or be on the National Priorities List.
- The work ranges from a Phase I to a full Phase II. Ohio EPA lists a Phase I assessment done to Voluntary Action Program or to All Appropriate Inquiry and ASTM requirements, an asbestos survey, a geophysical survey to detect hidden underground storage tanks, sampling of soil and groundwater around former tanks to confirm a petroleum release, a limited Phase II without permanent monitoring wells, and a full Voluntary Action Program Phase II with monitoring wells.
- It can lead to a tank designation. One service is the paperwork to assign Class C status to a storage tank release with the Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations (BUSTR), which Ohio EPA says establishes eligibility for cleanup grants. See underground storage tank releases.
A TBA is an assessment. Ohio EPA says it helps reduce the uncertainty about contamination and can support cleanup and redevelopment. Check what followed it.
Where to look a site up
- Ohio EPA's Ohio Brownfields page links a map titled Targeted Brownfield Assessment Program Sites, which it describes as the program's sites located in Ohio.
- Ohio Brownfields' staff are listed on the Contacts page of Ohio EPA's Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization (DERR). DERR is at 614-644-2924.
Getting the file
The pages read do not say how to get a copy of a TBA report from Ohio EPA. Ohio Brownfields says it responds to data and records requests through DERR, and Ohio EPA's public records page recommends the online file review request form.
Sources
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: