Central Records and Open Records Requests

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fills open records requests through its Central Records office, under Oklahoma Statute Title 51, starting at section 24A.1. DEQ lists Central Records under its Administrative Services Division, which it says oversees records management among other functions. DEQ's Frequently Asked Questions page has an entry headed "Phase 1 Site Assessments", and it sends those records requests to Central Records.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state's records request procedure among its standard record sources. This is DEQ's route to the reports and letters behind the DEQ listings in this section. Four details from DEQ's pages shape the request.

• Name the property and its businesses. For Phase I records, DEQ asks that you have the physical address of the property and the current and former names of any businesses associated with it. The FAQ page also asks for the physical address or property coordinate points on the electronic form.
• Inspection reports come from Central Records. Under "Compliance History", DEQ says copies of inspection reports for businesses it regulates are requested from Central Records, with the name of the business, former names if known, and the street address. The same answer points to EPA's public website for compliance and enforcement history.
• Septic records come from Central Records. DEQ says records on an installed septic system may be obtained from Central Records, and asks for the physical address of the property. The FAQ page names lateral line locations among the records to ask Central Records for.
• Posted hazardous waste permits are not the official record. On its hazardous waste permitting page, DEQ says the permits it posts there do not constitute official agency records, and that if they differ from the records in Central Records, the Central Records copy prevails. To review the official agency records, DEQ says to contact Central Records at 405-702-1188.

DEQ's FAQ page sends questions about petroleum underground storage tanks to the Petroleum Storage Tank Division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, at 405-521-4683. The Commission's records route is on the Oklahoma overview.

Getting the file

• Online. The Central Records Request Form, linked from DEQ's Central Records page.
• In person. Central Records is at 707 N. Robinson, 2nd Floor, Oklahoma City, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and observes state holidays. A form is filled out there, and DEQ says it cannot guarantee providing the records the day the form is filled out.
• By phone. 405-702-1188.
• By email. DEQ's FAQ page says Central Records can be reached by email, but the pages read do not print the address.

Whatever the route, DEQ asks that a request be as specific as possible and give the start and end dates of the records, the facility ID number or the name of the facility or company, any permit number, your name, phone number and email address, whether the records are land, air, water, or environmental complaints and local services documents, and the document types wanted if only some are needed. DEQ notes that the Central Records page is for records requests, not for reporting an environmental complaint.

Fees and timing

The DEQ pages read give no fee schedule and no time limit for an answer, beyond the note that in-person requests may not be filled the same day. The Attorney General's one-page summary of the Open Records Act, updated July 2025, which says it is not meant to be comprehensive, makes these points:

• Prompt, reasonable access. A public body must give prompt, reasonable access to its records during regular business hours, and the summary gives no number of days for it. It may not hold a simpler or current request behind older, more complex ones, and may delay only to prepare the documents or to avoid excessive disruption of its essential functions. Posting records online meets the duty.
• Copy fees. Up to 25 cents a page, or $1 a certified page. A higher reasonable fee is allowed for a request made for a commercial purpose or one that disrupts the body's work, and no search fee is charged for a request in the public interest, such as one from the media, scholars or taxpayers.
• Asking about purpose. A public body may require that a request be in writing, with contact information and enough else to tell whether it is made for a commercial purpose; the summary cites a 1999 Attorney General opinion for this.
• Open unless exempt. Records of public bodies are presumed open unless specifically exempted, and a body has no duty to create a record to answer a request.

The summary speaks of the public's right to know about its government. It does not say whether a requester must live in Oklahoma.

Sources

Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 12, 2026:

• Central Records, last modified July 31, 2026.
• Central Records Request Form, last modified September 2, 2026.
• Administrative Services Division, last modified October 23, 2025.
• Frequently Asked Questions, last modified September 18, 2026.
• Hazardous Waste Permitting and Corrective Action, last modified September 23, 2026.

Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General page, read October 13, 2026:

• Oklahoma Open Records One Pager, updated July 2025.