Oregon

Emergency Response Program

Agency Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Oregon Emergency Response Program

The Emergency Response Program of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) prevents, plans for and responds to spills of oil and hazardous materials. Spills are reported to the Oregon Emergency Response System at 1-800-452-0311, which DEQ calls the state's spill reporting line, and DEQ says its staff are on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

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. Oregon's records still matter, because a spill report can be the only record of a release that never became a cleanup case. Six details shape the search.

Not every spill is reportable. DEQ lists reportable spills as any amount of oil to waters of the state, oil spills on land in excess of 42 gallons, and hazardous materials equal to or greater than the quantity listed in 40 CFR Part 302, with amendments adopted before July 1, 2002. It also says the person responsible must clean up a spill immediately regardless of the quantity involved. The absence of a report does not show the absence of a spill.
Two calls, so possibly two records. DEQ tells a spiller to call both the Oregon Emergency Response System and the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.
DEQ answers part of the calls. DEQ says the state line received approximately 3,000 calls in 2021 and that DEQ responded to half of them.
The written report follows a DEQ letter. DEQ says that once a spill has been reported, the spiller may receive a letter requesting a completed spill/release report form that details the spill, the efforts to stop it spreading, the cleanup and the disposal of the waste. A hard copy with all supporting documents is mailed to the DEQ regional office named in the letter. That form is the document to ask for. DEQ's wording is that a letter may come, so do not expect a form for every call.
A spill can become a cleanup site. DEQ's cleanup program says it enters sites that its Spill program refers to Site Assessment for further action, and Site Assessment lists reports of chemical spills among the ways it learns of sites. See the Site Assessment Program page.
Tank releases are reported another way. A release from an underground tank system is reported through Your DEQ Online; see the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program page. A reportable release from an aboveground tank goes to this program.

Complaints are a separate record. DEQ takes pollution complaints through an online form or by voicemail at 1-888-997-7888, which it says is not a 24-hour emergency line. Its examples of complaints include the release of harmful chemicals, pollution or sewage to the ground or water, an illegal dumping site, and mismanagement of asbestos and hazardous waste. DEQ lists a Pollution Complaints Program in Your DEQ Online as of September 27, 2023.

The rules DEQ lists on the program's page are Oregon Administrative Rules Division 140, Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Assistance, Division 141, Oil Spill Contingency Planning and Fees, and Division 142, Oil and Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Requirements. Its Oil Spill Contingency Planning program reviews plans from petroleum facilities, pipelines, commercial ships larger than 300 gross tons and high hazard railways.

Where to look a site up

The pages read name no public search of spill reports or complaints. DEQ's page on Your DEQ Online's public records mentions an Events module for reporting pollution alongside the portal's three record modules, and does not say whether past reports can be searched there.
DEQ's How to Report a Spill page links the spill/release report form and a fact sheet on what to expect after a spill.

Getting the file

Ask DEQ for the spill/release report form and its supporting documents. DEQ has the form mailed to a regional office. The route is described on the Your DEQ Online and public records requests page.

Sources

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: