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Rhode Island

Environmental Land Use Restrictions (ELURs)

Agency Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
ASTM search distance Subject property only

An Environmental Land Use Restriction (ELUR) is one of the documents the Site Remediation Program of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) lists among the most common in its cleanup process; the program page's list calls it an Environmental Land Usage Restriction. DEM speaks of an ELUR as recorded on a property, and the program takes annual inspection reports on ELURs.

In a Phase I ESA

DEM's list of sites with ELURs is the Rhode Island form of the state institutional and engineering control registries that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a control listing is on the State/Tribal Institutional and Engineering Control Registries page. Four Rhode Island details shape how to read it.

  • The list is a general reference. DEM says it developed the list for use as a general reference, and that it is not meant to be a legally authoritative source for the location of hazardous materials, or for the status, condition or permissible use of a site. Read the restriction itself.
  • It is a Site Remediation list. DEM posts it on its Site Inventories page under the heading Waste Management Sites with Environmental Land Use Restrictions, and titles the files Site Remediation Sites with Environmental Land Use Restrictions. The pages read do not say whether restrictions from other DEM programs are on it, or whether it lists engineering controls.
  • Annual inspection reports. The Site Remediation Program says annual ELUR inspection reports may be sent to DEM.ELURAnnualMon@dem.ri.gov, and posts an ELUR Annual Inspection Form. For a property under an ELUR, ask for the inspection reports along with the restriction.
  • Arsenic restrictions and the 2025 change. The program's news, dated June 24, 2025, says the Residential and Industrial/Commercial Method 1 Direct Exposure Criteria for arsenic in soil is now 19 mg/kg. It asks owners or managers of a property with an ELUR recorded for soil with formerly jurisdictional arsenic concentrations, between 7.0 and 19.0 mg/kg, to contact the project manager of record or DEM.SiteRemInfo@dem.ri.gov. For an ELUR recorded for arsenic, check which concentrations it was recorded for. The pages read do not say what DEM does after such a contact.

The ELUR is one document among several in a Site Remediation file; the others are listed on the Site Remediation Program page.

Where to look a site up

  • The list is posted as a PDF and an Excel file on DEM's Site Inventories page. This handbook did not open the files. DEM says its site lists are current as of the date indicated and may change frequently.
  • The pages read do not say where an ELUR is recorded.
  • The Site Remediation Program takes general inquiries at DEM.SiteRemInfo@dem.ri.gov.

Getting the file

DEM's File Reviews page lists CERCLIS among the areas it coordinates and says that area covers files related to Site Remediation; see DEM File Reviews. Submit DEM's Request to Inspect and/or Copy Public Records form. DEM says file reviews are scheduled within 10 business days after the request is received, and gives the mailbox Dem.filereview@dem.ri.gov to schedule one.

Sources

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management pages, read October 13, 2026:

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with any government agency, and neither Barrow nor the information as presented here is endorsed by any state or government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report