Georgia Uniform Environmental Covenants

Georgia's Uniform Environmental Covenants Act, O.C.G.A. 44-16-1 and following, became effective on July 1, 2008. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) says the Act provides for the contents of an environmental covenant and for its enforcement, notice, recording, amendment and termination. EPD posts a list of the properties subject to the Act.

In a Phase I ESA

An environmental covenant is a set of permanent controls and restrictions on the use of a property, the kind of record ASTM E1527-21 lists under state institutional and engineering control registries. The general reading of a control listing is on the State/Tribal Institutional and Engineering Control Registries page.

EPD explains the purpose this way. Certain properties in Georgia have been designated as needing corrective action because of hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents or hazardous substances regulated under state law. In some instances an environmental covenant is put in place to protect people and the environment from exposure to the substances that remain in soil or groundwater. Georgia law requires compliance with the covenant. A covenant therefore means something was left in place.

Four Georgia details shape the search.

• A covenant is one kind of control, not the only kind. For Hazardous Site Inventory sites, EPD says deed notices or environmental covenants are required in stated cases. EPD's corrective action guidance also describes institutional controls as various affidavits in county deed records and various public notices. The covenant list should not be read as a list of every control.
• A brownfield certificate can restrict use without a covenant. EPD says certification to the residential or non-residential standard under the Brownfield Act functions as a de facto land use restriction. The Brownfield Public Listing has its own Use Restricted column; see the Brownfield Program page.
• Engineered controls bring a covenant. At brownfield properties where source material or soil cannot be removed or decontaminated, EPD requires engineered controls and a restrictive covenant detailing their maintenance and monitoring. The covenant may require markers for the restricted use zones. It runs with the land and binds current and future owners.
• A neighbor's release can produce one. EPD has a streamlined groundwater covenant for properties impacted by releases from nearby properties. A covenant on a property does not by itself show that the release began there.

Controls go with the Type 5 standard on the Risk Reduction Standards page. Because the Act provides for amendment and termination, and EPD posts a model termination document, confirm that a covenant found in an older report is still in force.

What the record shows

EPD publishes a model environmental covenant, an environmental covenant guidance document, the streamlined groundwater covenant and a set of questions and answers on it. The restrictions that apply to a property are in its own covenant. Read the covenant itself, not only the list entry.

EPD's brownfield page describes the list as a list of properties with finalized covenants. The pages read do not describe the list's columns, so they are not described here.

Where to look a site up

• EPD's Uniform Environmental Covenants Act page links the list under the label View Properties Subject to the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
• EPD's Voluntary Remediation Unit maintains the public records for properties subject to environmental covenants. The Response and Remediation Program is at 404.657.8600.
• EPD says the Act provides for recording. The pages read do not say where a covenant is recorded. EPD's corrective action guidance describes institutional controls as affidavits in county deed records, so check the deed records as well.

Getting the file

File reviews at EPD's downtown office are by appointment, requested by email at the address on its Land Branch Open Records Requests page. If files must come from the records center, EPD asks for 7 to 10 days. Requests under the Georgia Open Records Act go through EPD's Open Records Request Portal.

Sources

Georgia Environmental Protection Division pages, read October 7, 2026:

• Uniform Environmental Covenants Act, last modified June 11, 2026.
• Brownfield, last modified August 14, 2026.
• Corrective Action Plan 391-3-19-.06(6), last modified January 14, 2022.
• Comparison of Existing Contamination to Risk Reduction Standards 391-3-19-.07, last modified September 16, 2026.
• Hazardous Waste Forms, last modified September 1, 2026.
• LPB Program and Units, last modified June 30, 2026.
• Land Branch Open Records Requests, last modified July 29, 2026.
• File Review Procedures, last modified May 20, 2021.