Site Mitigation & Restoration Program

We protect and maintain California’s land and places
by setting strict standards for land restoration and cleanup

Discovery and Enforcement Program

The Discovery and Enforcement (D&E) Program is part of the Cleanup in Vulnerable Communities Initiative (CVCI) to protect the health of vulnerable communities. This new site discovery program will focus on sites containing dry-cleaning chemicals that have been released into the environment and could affect our communities.

Learn more about the D&E Program

Petition Application Process

The D&E Program has developed a petition application process for members of the public who may want to refer sites to the program for evaluation. For additional information please see the link below:

Petition Process Webpage

Year 1 Sites

The Discovery and Enforcement program has selected the 112 dry-cleaning sites that it will evaluate for Year 1 of the program. The program will have a Web-n-Learn to share how the list was developed and answer any questions from the public. The list of the sites is finalized and is available in the “Resources” section of this page.

Year 2 Sites

The Discovery and Enforcement program has updated their active Year 2 Sites for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year. The list of these sites is available in the “Resources” section of this page.

Orphan Sites

The CVCI Initiative includes $40 million to accelerate cleanups at 21 existing orphan sites across the state.

Hazardous substances release sites or properties without financially viable responsible parties are known as “orphan sites.” Orphan sites include an array of projects that come from California’s industrial past, and as such, these represent a diverse scale and scope of hazardous substances releases that DTSC is tasked to work on each day.

DTSC selected the 21 sites based on the following factors:

There is no known responsible party that is paying for cleanup activities at these sites. The state has utilized limited existing public funds to do incremental cleanup work.
Sites have cancer-causing chemicals that impact drinking water supplies, indoor air, and/or soil. Some sites have current, ongoing hazardous exposures.
These sites are close to having a cleanup or interim measure constructed, and additional funding can expedite the completion of the needed work.
Completing these cleanups or interim measures will protect public health and groundwater resources, and address threats located in or near residential areas.

CVCI funding for the 21 orphan sites supplements existing funding for DTSC’s Orphan Site program.