Site Remediation Program

The Site Remediation Program of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) oversees the investigation and remediation of sites contaminated with hazardous materials and petroleum. DEM gives its purpose as regulating and providing technical oversight for the investigation and remediation of releases of hazardous waste or hazardous material to the environment, and enforcing regulations on the proper disposal of abandoned hazardous waste. The program sits in DEM's Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management and supports the reuse of contaminated sites through the Brownfields Program.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 lists state Superfund equivalent records and state voluntary cleanup records among its standard sources. This handbook pairs neither type with the program itself.

• Its sites are on a shared list. DEM's List of CERCLIS and State Sites includes sites that have notified under the state program. This handbook pairs that list with the state Superfund equivalent record type, as its own reading.
• A voluntary program for brownfields. DEM's brownfields history page says that in 1995 Rhode Island passed its property remediation and reuse act, amended in 1997, and established a voluntary program for brownfields cleanup through DEM. The program page links the act as R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-19.14, the Industrial Property Remediation and Reuse Act. Among the program's objectives DEM lists encouraging voluntary responses to contamination discovered on properties in the state. The pages read link no separate list of voluntary cleanup sites.

What a site file can hold

DEM says the Remediation Regulations note specific documents that may be necessary in the process, and lists the most common:

• a Notification of Release, which DEM asks to receive at DEM.OWMSiteRemNOR@dem.ri.gov;
• a Site Investigation Report (SIR);
• a Remedial Action Work Plan (RAWP);
• a Remedial Action Closure Report (RACR);
• an Environmental Land Usage Restriction (ELUR), and the annual ELUR inspection form; see Environmental Land Use Restrictions (ELURs);
• a soil management plan, a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Statement and a Remedial Agreement.

The page also links example public notices for before and after a site investigation. For a site in the program, ask for these documents by name.

DEM's program 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. The page does not say what follows that contact.

The program page lists its policies, among them the EXPRESS Policy for environmental simple sites, guidelines for expedited excavation and disposal ("Dig & Haul"), and guidelines for managing historically agricultural properties for future use as open space or recreational land.

Where to look a site up

• DEM's Site Inventories page posts the List of CERCLIS and State Sites and a list of Site Remediation sites with ELURs.
• The Site Remediation Program page posts yearly PDF lists of sites where response actions are planned and of response actions completed, the latest for 10/1/2025 to 9/30/2026 and 10/01/2024 to 9/30/2025. This handbook did not open them. The same page links pages on a number of specific remediation and brownfields sites; check that list for the property.
• General inquiries go to DEM.SiteRemInfo@dem.ri.gov.

Getting the file

DEM's program page sends requests to review Site Remediation site files to its file review route; see DEM File Reviews. The File Reviews page lists those files under CERCLIS. 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:

• Site Remediation Program, last modified July 27, 2026.
• Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management, last modified October 6, 2026.
• Rhode Island’s History in Brownfields, last modified June 27, 2023.
• Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management Site Inventories, last modified June 5, 2026.
• DEM File Reviews, last modified September 24, 2026.