North Carolina
Risk-Based Remediation
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says risk-based remediation took its current form under Session Law 2015-286, which amended G.S. 130A-310.65 to 130A-310.77 (Part 8 of Article 9 of Chapter 130A). It says the law lets a contaminated site be cleaned up on a risk basis where remedial actions and land-use controls can reliably keep the affected properties safe for their intended use. DEQ says that, besides its underground tank, dry cleaner and pre-1983 landfill programs, risk-based remediation may now be considered in all of its cleanup programs, except cleanups that fall under the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014 or that concern animal waste management systems.
DEQ's list of where the 2015 law applies names sites cleaned up under the Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act, the hazardous waste and solid waste management programs, National Priorities List sites, the groundwater corrective action requirements of Article 21 of Chapter 143, and the Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substances Control Act. It names as outside the law the leaking petroleum underground tank program, the program for leaking aboveground tanks and other petroleum releases, the dry cleaner program, the pre-1983 landfill program, coal ash and animal waste systems. DEQ says the approach fits best where groundwater monitoring shows a plume that is stable or predictable, engineered or institutional controls can deal with every unacceptable risk, and the owners of all properties affected, or possibly affected, agree to the institutional controls.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists state institutional and engineering control registries among its standard sources. The general reading of a control listing is on the State/Tribal Institutional and Engineering Control Registries page. The pages read link no statewide North Carolina registry of land-use controls, so none is paired with that type here. They do say where some controls are recorded or reported:
- Brownfields. The Notice of Brownfields Property, with its land use restrictions, is recorded with the county Register of Deeds, and owners send DEQ a Land Use Restriction Update every year. See Brownfields Redevelopment Section.
- Dry cleaners. At a DSCA closure, a Notice of Dry-Cleaning Solvent Remediation and survey plat setting out the restrictions are filed with the county Register of Deeds, and owners certify compliance each year. See Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act (DSCA) Program.
- Inactive hazardous sites. The program posts an Annual Land Use Restriction Report Form. See Inactive Hazardous Sites Program.
- Petroleum releases. The UST Section posts Notice of Residual Petroleum forms, one with an alternate land use restriction, and a Notice of Contaminated Site form, and its non-UST program page links G.S. 143B-279.9 through 143B-279.11, which it labels as statutes on land-use restrictions and how they are recorded.
Because the brownfields and dry cleaner notices are filed with the county Register of Deeds, check the county land records for the subject property as well as DEQ's files.
Where to look a site up
- The pages read link no search of land-use controls. DEQ's Brownfields Projects Map, Inventory and Document Download page lets you find a brownfields property and download its yearly update form, which covers brownfields properties only.
- The program's pages link pages DEQ labels Procedures and Forms, Technical Guidance, Risk Evaluation Resources and Contacts, which this handbook did not open.
Getting the file
The pages read give no records route for risk-based remediation of its own. Ask the DEQ program that oversaw the cleanup. 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: