Barrow Logo Barrow EP Handbook

Tennessee

Drycleaner Environmental Response Program (DCERP)

Agency Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Tennessee Drycleaner Environmental Response Program (DCERP)

The Drycleaner Environmental Response Program (DCERP) of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) does two things. It regulates active drycleaning facilities through annual registration, and it offers active and former drycleaners entry to an environmental response side that helps owners and operators clean up property affected by releases of drycleaning solvent.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name drycleaner records among its standard record sources. In Tennessee they answer two different questions, and TDEC keeps them apart.

  • Registered is not enrolled for cleanup. TDEC says all drycleaners must register to operate, but are not required to enter the response side. A drycleaner that is registered to operate may not be registered for help with cleanup costs. Check both records.
  • Some cleaners never registered. TDEC says the only drycleaners not required to register are coin-operated drycleaners, drycleaners owned by or on a military base, commercial uniform services or linen supply facilities, and facilities owned by the state. A business that wet washes clothes and uses no drycleaning solvent does not need to register either. So the absence of a registration does not show the absence of solvent use.
  • The certificate is tied to an address. A Certificate of Registration is valid only for the address printed on it. Registration forms and fees are due by October 31 of every year.
  • Closed cleaners register too. Annual registration is required of closed facilities taking part in environmental response as well as of operating drycleaners and of solvent distributors delivering in Tennessee.
  • Two solvent types. TDEC separates solvents into light, with a specific gravity of less than 1, and dense, with a specific gravity of more than 1. It says dense solvents sink in water, and perchloroethylene is one of its examples of a dense solvent.

What a cleanup file can hold

TDEC says properties that once had an active drycleaner or solvent supplier, and that are eligible, may apply to the Environmental Response Activities section. What a file can hold follows from how the section works:

  • An applicant pays an annual registration fee of up to $2,500 and a deductible of 10% of each reimbursement, to a cumulative maximum of $50,000.
  • The applicant selects a Drycleaner Approved Contractor, which TDEC shortens to DCAC.
  • All work is preauthorized by DCERP. Work that is not pre-approved is not eligible to be covered by the fund.
  • When the property has been investigated and cleaned up, DCERP issues a Response Complete Summary, a summary of all work completed at the property. TDEC says a copy is kept in the DCERP file.

TDEC says a participant has completed the response activities when it receives that document. For a site on the cleanup list, ask whether a Response Complete Summary has been issued.

The rules are changing. TDEC says the Tennessee Legislature amended Tennessee Code Annotated Title 68, Chapter 217, with changes in effect July 1, 2026 that include eligibility restrictions for the cleanup program and a maximum annual per-site limit for cleanup costs, and that rules to match are being developed. A notice dated January 5, 2026 says the program has a new Fund Eligibility Policy. The program's rule is 0400-15-03, and TDEC lists the law as the Tennessee Drycleaner's Environmental Response Act, TCA 68-217-101 and following.

Where to look a site up

Getting the file

TDEC says to request drycleaner files with its information request form, the TDEC Public Records Request form on its Public Records Request page.

Sources

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation pages, read October 7, 2026:

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report