Tennessee
Enforcement orders
Tennessee enforcement orders
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) publishes its enforcement actions through one online database that covers all of its divisions. TDEC says it built the application to give the public timely information about its enforcement activities.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name state enforcement records among its standard record sources. An order can say what went wrong at a facility in the agency's own words, and Tennessee's database crosses the divisions that the other pages here treat one at a time.
- One search, every division. TDEC says the database can be queried by type of enforcement action and by other criteria that include site location, county, action status, involved party and TDEC regulatory division. Search by the party as well as by the site, because an operator may have orders at other locations.
- Status is a field. Action status is one of the search criteria. Read it before describing an order as open or resolved.
- It follows the working database. TDEC says its Dataviewers pull from the same consolidated databases its staff use and reflect overnight updates.
Penalties and appeals
TDEC's program pages state their own penalties. The figures on the pages read:
| Program | What TDEC says |
|---|---|
| Underground storage tanks | Penalties for violations can reach a maximum of $10,000 per day per violation |
| Landfill permits | Penalties for noncompliance range from administrative orders to fines up to $5,000 per day per violation |
| Solid Waste Permit-By-Rule | Enforcement actions and penalties range from administrative orders to fines of up to $500 per day per incident |
| Hazardous waste permits | Penalties for non-compliance can range from civil administrative orders to criminal penalties |
| Underground injection wells | Violators are subject to civil penalties up to $10,000 per day |
For tanks there is a second public sign of enforcement. The Division of Underground Storage Tanks publishes a weekly list of facilities under delivery prohibition, described on the underground storage tank notifications page.
Appeals go to boards. TDEC says a tank owner or operator who disagrees with a Division decision may appeal to the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Board, and that a landfill permit denial or condition may be appealed to the Underground Storage Tanks and Solid Waste Disposal Control Board. Ask whether a matter was appealed.
Where to look a site up
- TDEC's Enforcement Orders page links the Enforcement Database. TDEC says the database has a detailed Help function.
- TDEC's Data and Map Viewers page lists a Department Enforcement Database. For help inside a viewer, TDEC gives its Help Desk at BG-Help_Desk@tn.gov or (615) 532-0287.
Getting the file
The database tells you an action exists. For the order and the correspondence behind it, use TDEC's Public Records Request page. The pages read do not say whether the database carries the order documents themselves.
Sources
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation pages, read October 7, 2026:
- Enforcement Orders, last modified July 10, 2026.
- TDEC Dataviewers, last modified September 14, 2026.
- Notification and Fees, last modified August 12, 2026.
- Sites Under Delivery Prohibition, last modified October 2, 2026.
- Landfill Permit, last modified July 7, 2026.
- Solid Waste Permit-By-Rule, last modified April 28, 2026.
- Hazardous Waste Permit, last modified April 28, 2026.
- Underground Injection Control Permit, last modified May 11, 2026.
- Public Records Request, last modified November 3, 2025.