diff --git a/stewi/DMR.py b/stewi/DMR.py
index cfa6651..7dfc2b0 100644
--- a/stewi/DMR.py
+++ b/stewi/DMR.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
     2014-2021
 """
 
-import requests
 import pandas as pd
 import argparse
 import urllib
@@ -27,6 +26,7 @@
 from io import BytesIO
 
 from esupy.processed_data_mgmt import read_source_metadata
+from esupy.remote import make_url_request
 from stewi.globals import unit_convert,\
     DATA_PATH, lb_kg, write_metadata, get_reliability_table_for_source,\
     log, compile_source_metadata, config, store_inventory, set_stewi_meta,\
@@ -134,31 +134,18 @@ def download_data(url_params, filepath: Path) -> str:
     df = pd.DataFrame()
     url = generate_url(url_params)
     log.debug(url)
-    for attempt in range(3):
-        try:
-            r = requests.get(url)
-            r.raise_for_status()
-            # When more than 100,000 records, need to split queries
-            if ((len(r.content) < 1000) and
-                ('Maximum number of records' in str(r.content))):
-                for x in ('NGP', 'GPC', 'NPD'):
-                    split_url = f'{url}&p_permit_type={x}'
-                    r = requests.get(split_url)
-                    r.raise_for_status()
-                    df_sub = pd.read_csv(BytesIO(r.content), low_memory=False)
-                    if len(df_sub) < 3: continue
-                    df = pd.concat([df, df_sub], ignore_index=True)
-            else:
-                df = pd.read_csv(BytesIO(r.content), low_memory=False)
-            break
-        except (requests.exceptions.HTTPError,
-                requests.exceptions.ConnectionError) as err:
-            log.info(err)
-            time.sleep(20)
-            pass
+    r = make_url_request(url)
+    # When more than 100,000 records, need to split queries
+    if ((len(r.content) < 1000) and
+        ('Maximum number of records' in str(r.content))):
+        for x in ('NGP', 'GPC', 'NPD'):
+            split_url = f'{url}&p_permit_type={x}'
+            r = make_url_request(split_url)
+            df_sub = pd.read_csv(BytesIO(r.content), low_memory=False)
+            if len(df_sub) < 3: continue
+            df = pd.concat([df, df_sub], ignore_index=True)
     else:
-        log.warning("exceeded max attempts")
-        return 'other_error'
+        df = pd.read_csv(BytesIO(r.content), low_memory=False)
     log.debug(f"saving to {filepath}")
     pd.to_pickle(df, filepath)
     return 'success'
diff --git a/stewi/GHGRP.py b/stewi/GHGRP.py
index 6bfed61..1ae13cd 100644
--- a/stewi/GHGRP.py
+++ b/stewi/GHGRP.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 
 import pandas as pd
 import numpy as np
-import requests
 import time
 import argparse
 import warnings
@@ -37,6 +36,7 @@
 from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
 
 from esupy.processed_data_mgmt import read_source_metadata
+from esupy.remote import make_url_request
 from stewi.globals import download_table, write_metadata, import_table, \
     DATA_PATH, get_reliability_table_for_source, set_stewi_meta, config,\
     store_inventory, paths, log, \
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ def get_row_count(table, report_year):
         count_url += f'/REPORTING_YEAR/=/{report_year}'
     count_url += '/COUNT'
     try:
-        count_request = requests.get(count_url)
+        count_request = make_url_request(count_url)
         count_xml = minidom.parseString(count_request.text)
         table_count = count_xml.getElementsByTagName('TOTALQUERYRESULTS')
         table_count = int(table_count[0].firstChild.nodeValue)
diff --git a/stewi/NEI.py b/stewi/NEI.py
index ef0f643..a265f0c 100644
--- a/stewi/NEI.py
+++ b/stewi/NEI.py
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
-import requests
 
 from esupy.processed_data_mgmt import download_from_remote,\
     read_source_metadata
+from esupy.remote import make_url_request
 from esupy.util import strip_file_extension
 from stewi.globals import DATA_PATH, write_metadata, USton_kg, lb_kg,\
     log, store_inventory, config, assign_secondary_context,\
@@ -128,16 +128,7 @@ def generate_national_totals(year):
     url = build_url.replace('__year__', year)
     url = url.replace('__file__', file)
 
-    # make http request
-    r = []
-    try:
-        r = requests.Session().get(url, verify=False)
-    except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
-        log.error(f"URL Connection Error for {url}")
-    try:
-        r.raise_for_status()
-    except requests.exceptions.HTTPError:
-        log.error('Error in URL request!')
+    r = make_url_request(url, verify=False)
 
     # extract data from zip archive
     z = zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(r.content))
diff --git a/stewi/globals.py b/stewi/globals.py
index 713ef61..fd9cd02 100644
--- a/stewi/globals.py
+++ b/stewi/globals.py
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
 import time
 import urllib
 import copy
+import shutil
+import zipfile
+import io
 from datetime import datetime
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -22,6 +25,7 @@
     write_df_to_file, write_metadata_to_file,\
     download_from_remote
 from esupy.dqi import get_weighted_average
+from esupy.remote import make_url_request
 from esupy.util import get_git_hash
 import stewi.exceptions
 
@@ -97,12 +101,10 @@ def download_table(filepath: Path, url: str, get_time=False):
     """Download file at url to Path if it does not exist."""
     if not filepath.exists():
         if url.lower().endswith('zip'):
-            import zipfile, requests, io
-            table_request = requests.get(url).content
-            zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(table_request))
+            r = make_url_request(url)
+            zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(r.content))
             zip_file.extractall(filepath)
         elif 'xls' in url.lower() or url.lower().endswith('excel'):
-            import shutil
             try:
                 with urllib.request.urlopen(url) as response, open(filepath, 'wb') as out_file:
                     shutil.copyfileobj(response, out_file)