Vermont environmental records for a Phase I ESA

16Program pages

Vermont programs

Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation 15

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources 1

Public Records Requests

A Phase I records review in Vermont draws on one state department: the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which is part of the Agency of Natural Resources. DEC's Waste Management and Prevention Division runs most of the programs on this page: storage tanks, contaminated sites, brownfields, hazardous waste, solid waste, salvage yards and spills. Its Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division manages the underground injection control and wastewater system programs and maintains a database of wells drilled in Vermont. This page maps each kind of record ASTM E1527-21 asks for to the Vermont program behind it, and links a page on each program.

The standard record types, in Vermont

ASTM record type	Vermont program	Agency
State Superfund equivalent	Contaminated sites: the properties whose investigation and cleanup DEC's Sites Management Section oversees. The pages read call no Vermont list a state Superfund list; the pairing is the handbook's reading.	DEC
State hazardous waste facilities	No single Vermont list is paired here. The Vermont records that bear on it are Hazardous Waste Permitting and Hazardous waste handlers and EPA ID numbers.	DEC
Landfills and solid waste sites	Solid waste facilities: the facilities DEC's Solid Waste Management Program certifies. The pages read link no list of certified facilities or landfills; the pairing is the handbook's reading.	DEC
Leaking storage tanks	No single Vermont list is paired here. The pages read link no search of tank release cases. The Petroleum Cleanup Fund's annual report attachments include a map labeled Distribution of VT PCF Releases, which this handbook did not open. A storage tank release is reported through Spill Management. For contamination found during an underground tank removal, DEC points to the Sites Management Section (see Contaminated sites). The Petroleum Cleanup Fund (PCF) pays, subject to available funding, certain uninsured cleanup costs for petroleum releases from tanks.	DEC
Registered storage tanks	Underground storage tanks and Aboveground storage tanks. DEC's underground tank pages speak of permitted facilities; its aboveground tank pages say AST systems at bulk storage tank facilities must be registered with the state.	DEC
Institutional and engineering controls	No single Vermont list is paired here. The pages read name no registry of controls. DEC says a BRELLA Certificate of Completion is recorded in the land records of the property and may include land use restrictions; see BRELLA. DEC's guidance page links a Land Use Restriction annual inspection checklist and an Administrative Use Control petition form, which this handbook did not open.	DEC
Voluntary cleanup sites	Brownfields Reuse and Environmental Liability Limitation Program (BRELLA). The pages read link no list of BRELLA sites; the pairing is the handbook's reading.	DEC
Brownfields sites	No single Vermont list is paired here. The pages read link no list of brownfield sites. The program is on the Brownfields Program page.	DEC

How far each search reaches is on the ASTM search distances page.

One department, and the agencies beside it

Most of the programs a Phase I meets are run by one division. The Waste Management and Prevention Division says it performs emergency response for hazardous materials spills, issues permits under federal and state programs for hazardous wastes, solid wastes and underground storage tanks, and manages cleanup at hazardous sites under state and federal authorities, including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and CERCLA. The Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division also has staff in five regional offices that regulate wastewater systems and potable water supplies. DEC's Environmental Enforcement Officers are responsible for investigating alleged violations of the permits, rules, regulations and statutes under the jurisdiction of DEC and the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

DEC's pages name other offices a search may meet, among them these three. ASTs at bulk storage tank facilities may need a permit from the Division of Fire Safety of the Department of Public Safety. DEC's Well Driller Reporting page says well driller licensing has been transferred to the Office of Professional Regulation; the division's main page still lists well drillers among those it certifies or licenses. Some DEC violations also involve Act 250 permits or regulations, and DEC's enforcement officers coordinate those cases with staff of the Land Use Review Board. This handbook does not read those agencies' pages.

DEC's online searches

The Waste Management and Prevention Division's page links the Environmental Research Tool (ERT) to find information on a specific site or facility, and names the WM-ID with it. Under Maps, Data, and Records, DEC's Waste Topics page links pages it labels Contaminated Sites, Above Ground Storage Tanks, Underground Storage Tanks and Hazardous Waste Generators, which this handbook did not open. DEC's storage tank pages call the underground tank link a search for a facility using the ERT. The Spill Management page links the Spill Database.

The Contaminated Sites page says the ERT includes electronic copies of important site information, such as the initial site investigation report, for many sites, but does not generally represent all information in a site file. DEC also points to the ANR Atlas, a map that the same page says can link from sites to documents where available, generate reports and export search results.

Getting a file from DEC

A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page. Under 1 V.S.A. § 316, any person may inspect or copy a public record. ANR takes requests on its online form or by email to its records officers and liaisons, and its guide for staff says it must answer within three business days, or within ten business days of receipt when it extends the deadline in the circumstances the law lists; a longer extension needs the requester's agreement. The Public Records Requests page has the details.

For a contaminated site, the Contaminated Sites page says to contact the DEC project manager for reports you are interested in, and to locate the site on the ERT to find who that is. To review the entire site file, it says to email the division staff it names to complete a public records request. For a septic or water supply permit the online search does not show, DEC says to contact the appropriate regional office. The pages read for DEC's other programs give no route of their own.

The Waste Management and Prevention Division is in the Davis Building, 3rd Floor, One National Life Drive, Montpelier, VT 05620-3521. Its telephone during office hours (Monday to Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) is 802-828-1138. Spills are reported to that number during office hours, or to the 24-hour HAZMAT hotline at 800-641-5005.

Sources

Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources pages, read October 13, 2026:

Public Records, no modified date shown.
Responding to Requests for Access to Public Records Under the Vermont Public Records Law: A Guide for Agency of Natural Resources Employees, dated April 30, 2025.

Vermont General Assembly page, read October 13, 2026, which says its statutes include the actions of the 2025 session:

1 V.S.A. § 316. Access to public records and documents