North Carolina
UST Section Corrective Action Branch
The Corrective Action Branch of the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Section, in the Division of Waste Management (DWM) of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), oversees the assessment and cleanup of sites where petroleum has been released, and of sites where an underground tank has released a hazardous substance. After an owner or operator tells the section of a release, branch staff work with the responsible party and its environmental consultant, monitor the consultant's work and may sample wells while the cleanup runs. The branch also pre-approves claims on the state's tank cleanup funds, reviews requests for technical reimbursement, and oversees DEQ's Ex Situ Petroleum Contaminated Soil Remediation Permit program.
In a Phase I ESA
The branch's cases are the North Carolina form of the state leaking storage tank records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a leaking tank listing is on the LUST page. DEQ's UST databases page, which the branch links, posts a download it labels the Incident Management Database, for regional underground storage tanks; no page read says what it holds. This handbook did not open it, so the pairing rests on that label and on the branch's account of its work, and is the handbook's reading. Releases from aboveground tanks and other non-UST sources are a separate program; see Non-UST Petroleum Releases.
Three North Carolina details shape how to read a case.
- Closed files are archived by county. DEQ says UST files closed two or more years ago are stored on CD or DVD or in DWM's online document system. A disc holds 20 to 200 incident and clean closure files, with their letters and reports scanned and all incident management records except State Trust Fund documents. Discs are sorted by county, files run in the order of the UST Number from the section's RUST database, and each file is split into Responsible Party, DEQ and Miscellaneous folders. A disc costs $15.00.
- Forms that mark a case. The UST Forms page lists the 24-hour release reports, UST-61 and UST-62, and instructions and forms for a Notice of Residual Petroleum for UST releases, a version with an alternate land use restriction, and a Notice of Contaminated Site. For a case closed with petroleum left in place, ask whether the file holds one of these notices.
- The state cleanup funds. The state's N.C. Leaking Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Funds are administered, along with EPA grants, by the section's Trust Fund Branch, whose staff oversee fund eligibility decisions and reimbursements. DEQ's databases page posts a download it labels the State Cleanup Funds Database, which the page's note describes as reimbursement claims against the State Trust Funds for leaking tank cleanup costs. Fund documents are left off the archive discs.
Where to look a site up
- DEQ's Underground Storage Tank Databases and Reports page carries the Incident Management Database and State Cleanup Funds Database downloads, which this handbook did not open.
- DWM's Laserfiche WebLink. DWM posts search instructions for UST users that cover corrective action and trust fund files.
- DWM's Site Locator Tool shows underground tank sites with the division's other sites.
- The branch links a PDF it labels Corrective Action Branch Map, which this handbook did not open. The UST Section's central line is (919) 707-8171.
Getting the file
The UST file review page sets out how each of DEQ's regional offices shows UST files; most require an appointment. To pull an incident or closure file, the Mooresville, Raleigh and Winston-Salem offices ask for the incident number or the facility's name and address. The Washington office asks for the incident number, the incident's name and address, the responsible party's name and address, and, for a release from a commercial tank, the facility ID number. Full sets of the archive discs are kept at the central office in Raleigh, where the UST Section at (919) 707-8171 arranges viewing or purchase, and at each regional office. 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: