North Carolina
Inactive Hazardous Sites Program
The Inactive Hazardous Sites Program is run by the Superfund Section's Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, in the Division of Waste Management (DWM) of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The Branch oversees and approves the assessment and cleanup of sites contaminated by hazardous substances, from old releases and recent accidental ones alike, and of other contaminants where they are in groundwater or threaten it. It does not take discharges tied to a DEQ permit, hazardous waste dumping, farm operations, federal cleanup sites, petroleum releases, or sites the dry cleaner program is cleaning up. It oversees remedial actions, takes enforcement action where needed at the sites it ranks highest, and does the work itself at orphaned sites when state resources allow.
In a Phase I ESA
The Branch's site inventory is paired here with the state Superfund equivalent that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The pages read do not call it a state Superfund list, so the pairing is the handbook's reading. The general reading of a state Superfund listing is on the state Superfund equivalent page.
Four North Carolina details shape how to read a listing.
- The inventory is posted as lists. The program page links a List of Sites By Name and a List of Sites By County, both dated March 2026, and a Pre-Regulatory Landfill Inventory dated December 2023. This handbook did not open them. Old municipal landfills have a program of their own: see Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program.
- No Further Action leaves room for later action. When a party satisfactorily completes a voluntary remedial action, under a registered environmental consultant or under state oversight, it receives a letter saying the work the Administrative Agreement required is done and the agreement is terminated, and the site is assigned No Further Action status in the inventory. DEQ says that change does not stop the state from acting later if new evidence of contamination comes to light. Separately, under G.S. 130A-310.7(c), anyone may ask the Branch in writing, with a fee, to decide whether a site meets unrestricted use standards. Ask whether the file holds the closing letter.
- Owners must report what they know. DEQ's notification page says the Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act requires an owner, operator or responsible party to give the Branch all the site data it knows or can readily get within 90 days of when it knows, or should know, that an inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal site exists, and that 15A NCAC 2L requires the Branch to be told at once when a non-permitted activity is found to have contaminated groundwater.
- A restriction report form. The program page links a form titled Annual Land Use Restriction Report Form, which this handbook did not open.
DEQ's page also notes that the separate brownfields program obliges a buyer to work only on the property bought, and that neither a brownfields agreement nor the Ready for Reuse agreement a current owner may seek relieves a responsible party of contamination that is not under control, including contamination still moving off the property.
Where to look a site up
- The site lists on the Inactive Hazardous Sites Program page, which this handbook did not open.
- DWM's Site Locator Tool shows Superfund sites with the division's other sites.
- Superfund documents are in DWM's Laserfiche WebLink, with search instructions DWM posts for Superfund users.
- The Branch posts its contacts and a regional map as downloads, which this handbook did not open. DWM takes general inquiries at 919-707-8200.
Getting the file
DEQ's Superfund File Records page says some Superfund Section files may not be online: CERCLA site assessment reports and letters, older National Priorities List site documents, and documents received recently, generally in the last 30 days. For paper files it points to DWM's file room page, which says the Superfund Section File Room takes requests by letter, phone or email, at Mail Service Center 1646, Raleigh, NC 27699-1646, and shows files only by appointment. DEQ's online request form is the department's general route; see Requesting Public Records.
Sources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: