Tennessee oil and gas well permits

Oil and gas wells in Tennessee are overseen by the Oil & Gas Program of the Division of Mineral & Geologic Resources, in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). TDEC says the program provides regulatory oversight of oil and gas well drilling and operation, issues permits, conducts inspections, and oversees the process to plug abandoned wells.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name oil and gas well records among its standard record sources. On a property with oil and gas history they answer whether a well was permitted on or near it.

• The record is a permit database. TDEC says the program maintains a database of permits that can be searched through its Data Viewer, and that its Map Viewer shows the locations of permitted wells. The pages read do not say how far back the permits go, so the absence of a well from the viewer does not show the absence of a well.
• The map searches by address. TDEC says the Map Viewer can be searched for addresses and links each mapped well to the related records in the Data Viewer. Start with the map for a property, then read the permit record.
• Plugging is the program's business. The program oversees the process to plug abandoned wells. For a well on the property, ask the program whether it was plugged and for the record of it.
• Brine disposal wells are another division's. Wells that inject oil field brine are Class II injection wells, permitted by the Division of Water Resources. See Underground Injection Control.

The Division of Mineral & Geologic Resources also regulates discharges from mining activities into surface waters. TDEC's viewer page carries a notice dated May 15, 2024 that regulatory authority for NPDES and ARAP mining-related activities was transferred to the newly formed Division, and tells users to select the Division's own data viewer for those permits. The Division's page also names an Abandoned Mine Land Program, administered by its Land Reclamation Section, and the Tennessee Geological Survey. The pages read say no more about those records.

Where to look a site up

• The Oil & Gas Data Viewer, for permit records.
• The DMGR Map Viewer, for well locations by address.
• Both are linked from the program's Data & Map Viewers page.
• The Oil & Gas Program is at (865) 594-6035 and TDEC.OilAndGas@tn.gov.

Getting the file

TDEC's Public Records Request page carries the department's records request route. The oil and gas pages read do not describe a separate route for well files.

Sources

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

• Oil & Gas Program, last modified May 27, 2026.
• Oil & Gas Program - Data & Map Viewers, last modified October 2, 2025.
• Division of Mineral & Geologic Resources, last modified September 23, 2026.
• TDEC Dataviewers, last modified September 14, 2026.
• Underground Injection Control Permit, last modified May 11, 2026.
• Public Records Request, last modified November 3, 2025.