EPA Contaminated Site Screener — Phase I ESA Multi-Database Records Search

Screens a US address or coordinate against six EPA regulatory databases for nearby contaminated and regulated sites — the multi-database records search that sits at the core of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ASTM E1527). Built for Phase I consultants, CRE buyers and lenders, environmental attorneys, and underwriters who need to triage a property or a portfolio before ordering the full report. Optional astmMode adds an ASTM E1527-21 standard search-distance verdict per database. No API key.

Programs covered

Each nearby site becomes one row, tagged with its program:

program	EPA database	Source
SUPERFUND	NPL / Superfund (SEMS)	EPA Envirofacts data.epa.gov/efservice/ENVIROFACTS_SITE
RCRA	Hazardous-waste handlers / corrective action	EPA ECHO
TRI	Toxic Release Inventory reporters	EPA ECHO
UST	Underground storage tank facilities	EPA UST Finder (ArcGIS)
LUST	Leaking underground storage tank releases	EPA UST Finder (ArcGIS)
BROWNFIELD	Brownfields / ACRES	EPA FRS (ArcGIS)

Addresses are geocoded with the free US Census geocoder. Per-program fetch failures warn and continue, so one database being down never fails the run — you get the hits from the programs that answered.

Two modes

assets mode (default) — screen your properties. For each asset, the actor queries every selected program within your radius and returns one row per nearby site, carrying program, list, site_name, distance_miles, status, and an on_npl flag. An asset with no hits still returns one clear row; a bad input returns one error row. Each asset item is either { "address": "...", "label": "..." } or { "lat": <n>, "lon": <n>, "state": "<2-letter>", "label": "..." }. The state field is required with lat/lon because Superfund/SEMS is fetched per state. Leave programs empty to screen all six; maxHitsPerProgram (default 50) caps the nearest hits kept per program per asset. Set astmMode: true to add one extra ASTM E1527-21 search-distance summary row per asset (see below); it's off by default so existing integrations see no change.

{
  "mode": "assets",
  "assets": [
    { "lat": 39.8037, "lon": -104.9986, "state": "CO", "label": "Denver warehouse" },
    { "address": "5980 Lipan St, Denver, CO 80221", "label": "Denver warehouse (by address)" }
  ],
  "radiusMiles": 1,
  "programs": ["SUPERFUND", "RCRA", "TRI", "UST", "LUST", "BROWNFIELD"],
  "maxHitsPerProgram": 50,
  "astmMode": true
}

inventory mode — list the raw EPA SEMS/Superfund site roster for the states you name (Superfund only; the other five programs don't apply here).

{ "mode": "inventory", "states": ["CO", "NJ"], "onlyNpl": true }

Key output fields (assets mode)

• result_type — listing (a hit), clear (screened, nothing within radius), or error.
• program, list — the EPA program and its readable database name.
• site_name, site_address, site_city, site_state, site_zip — the listed site; site_id, registry_id its identifiers.
• distance_miles — great-circle distance from the asset to the site.
• status, status_detail — program-specific (NPL status, open/closed UST counts, LUST substance/date, brownfield type).
• on_npl — true only for an active NPL/Superfund hit, the highest-concern signal.
• phase1_flag — true on any listing row.
• asset_*, radius_miles, checked_at, error, disclaimer, source_url.

NPL/Superfund proximity rollup (per asset)

Classic Phase I ESA metrics, one set of values repeated on every row for that asset (same pattern as asset_label/asset_lat):

• nearest_npl_site_name, nearest_npl_distance_miles, nearest_npl_status — the closest NPL-lifecycle SEMS site (Final NPL, part-of-listed-site, Proposed, Deleted, or Removed-from-proposed) to the asset. Computed against the asset's entire state SEMS inventory (already fetched for the SUPERFUND program — no extra API calls), so it's not bounded by radiusMiles: a Phase I report conventionally states the nearest NPL site and its distance even when that distance exceeds the search radius. Null when the state has no coordinate-mapped NPL-lifecycle site, or when SUPERFUND isn't in programs.
• npl_sites_within_radius — count of coordinate-mapped NPL-lifecycle sites actually within radiusMiles.
• phase1_esa_flag — per-asset rollup: true when the asset has any program hit within radius OR any NPL-lifecycle site within radius. Check any one row for this asset to know if it needs a closer look.
• phase1_summary — one-line plain-English rollup, e.g. 1 EPA-listed site(s) within 1 mi (SUPERFUND); 1 NPL-track site(s) within 1 mi; nearest NPL-track site: "BRODERICK WOOD PRODUCTS" 0.05 mi (Final NPL).

Caveat: only ~10–15% of SEMS/Superfund records nationwide carry coordinates, so nearest_npl_* and npl_sites_within_radius can only rank/count the coordinate-mapped subset — an un-geocoded NPL site in the same county won't surface here.

ASTM E1527-21 search distances (astmMode, assets mode)

Built for Phase I ESA consultants who need a quick pre-check against the ASTM E1527-21 "Standard Environmental Record Sources & Search Distances" table (Sec. 8.2.1) before ordering (or while scoping) the formal records review. Set astmMode: true and the actor emits one extra row per asset, after its normal listing/clear rows, with row_type: "astm_summary":

{
  "mode": "assets",
  "assets": [{ "lat": 39.8037, "lon": -104.9986, "state": "CO", "label": "Denver warehouse" }],
  "radiusMiles": 1,
  "astmMode": true
}

The summary row carries:

• row_type — "astm_summary" (null on every other row type).
• astm_effective_radius_miles — the radius actually fetched for the summary: max(radiusMiles, 1.0), since ASTM's widest standard search distance (NPL) is 1 mile. This only widens what's fetched for the summary — your normal hit/clear rows still respect radiusMiles exactly as before.
• astm_databases — an object keyed by database, one entry per program you screened (this actor's programs mapped to the ASTM table below), each with required_radius_mi, hits_within_required_radius, nearest_distance_mi, and astm_flag.
• astm_overall_verdict — "REC potential — hits within ASTM search distances" if any database has a hit inside its required radius, else "No mapped hits within ASTM search distances".
• astm_disclaimer — the standard advisory (see FAQ below).

The mapping used (this actor's programs -> ASTM E1527-21 Sec. 8.2.1 search distances):

ASTM database (astm_databases key)	Required search radius	This actor's program
NPL (Superfund, Final)	1.0 mi	SUPERFUND (on_npl = true)
Delisted NPL / SEMS-CERCLIS (non-NPL)	0.5 mi	SUPERFUND (on_npl = false)
RCRA CORRACTS/TSD & LQG/SQG generators	1.0 mi (conservative)	RCRA
LUST	0.5 mi	LUST
UST (registered)	0.25 mi	UST
Brownfields / institutional controls	0.5 mi	BROWNFIELD

TRI is not one of ASTM's standard regulatory record sources, so it never gets an astm_databases entry even if you screen it. RCRA's ASTM table actually has two line items (CORRACTS/TSD facilities at 1.0 mi vs. LQG/SQG generators at 0.25 mi) — EPA ECHO's RCRAFlag doesn't expose which one applies to a given facility, so this actor conservatively uses the wider 1.0 mi radius for every RCRA hit rather than guess.

Inventory-mode rows use a separate field set (epa_id, npl_status_code/npl_status_name, is_superfund, federal_facility, archived, lat/lon, etc.).

Caveats worth knowing

• This is a screening aid, not a Phase I ESA. It does not replace a licensed environmental professional's records search — use it to triage, then order the real report on flagged properties.
• Coverage and geocoding vary by program. Roughly 85–90% of SEMS/Superfund records nationwide have no coordinates (old archived/NFRAP sites) and can't be distance-screened, so a clear result means "no geocoded listing within radius," not a guarantee of no history. Use inventory mode with onlyWithCoords: false to see the full raw SEMS roster.
• distance_miles is measured to a database point (often a parcel centroid or address match), not a property boundary, so treat it as approximate.
• nearest_npl_* is the closest coordinate-mapped NPL-lifecycle SEMS site state-wide, not capped by radiusMiles — that's intentional (matches how a Phase I report states the nearest NPL site even beyond the search radius), but it means a very "far" nearest-NPL distance in a low-density state is normal, not a bug.

Pair it with state tank & spill registries

Federal EPA data is only half a Phase I records search. The companion State UST, LUST & Spill Registry Screener screens the same coordinates against state-level registries — NY DEC Spills and California GeoTracker cleanup cases (LUST, military UST, land disposal) — with case status, contaminant, and an open-case flag. Run both on a portfolio for federal + state coverage in one pass.

Use as an MCP tool

A Pay-Per-Result API discoverable to AI agents through mcp.apify.com. Hand an agent an address or a list of properties and it gets back structured multi-program environmental-risk hits, with no scraping or manual EPA lookups.

FAQ

Which databases does it search? Superfund/NPL, RCRA, TRI, UST, LUST, and Brownfields/ACRES — pick a subset via programs or leave it empty for all six.

Does this replace a Phase I ESA? No. It is a pre-screen; order a licensed Phase I ESA for anything flagged.

Can I screen a whole portfolio at once? Yes — pass as many items as you want in assets; each site hit is one row.

What are the ASTM E1527 search distances? ASTM E1527-21 (Sec. 8.2.1) sets a standard minimum radius per regulatory database that a Phase I ESA records review must cover — e.g. 1.0 mile for NPL/Superfund, 0.5 mile for LUST, 0.25 mile for UST. Set astmMode: true to get a per-asset summary row scoring this actor's databases against those distances.

Does this satisfy an ASTM E1527 records review? No. astmMode is a screening aid that approximates the standard's search-distance table against this actor's six EPA databases — it is not an ASTM E1527-21 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and does not by itself satisfy the standard's records-review requirement. Order a licensed Phase I ESA from an Environmental Professional for anything flagged.

How is billing calculated? One dataset row per site hit (assets mode, including the optional astm_summary row when astmMode is on) or per SEMS site (inventory mode).