GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1997 SESSION

SESSION LAW 1997-528

HOUSE BILL 227

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT RECORDATION OF AN INACTIVE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE OR WASTE DISPOSAL SITE IS NOT REQUIRED IN CERTAIN CASES, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COMMISSION.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 130A-310.8 reads as rewritten:

"§ 130A-310.8.  Recordation of inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal sites.

(a)         After determination by the Department of the existence and location of an inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal site, the owner of the real property on which the site is located, within 180 days after official notice to him to do so, shall submit to the Department a survey plat of areas designated by the Department which has been prepared and certified by a professional land surveyor, and entitled 'NOTICE OF INACTIVE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE OR WASTE DISPOSAL SITE'.  The Notice shall include a legal description of the site that would be sufficient as a description in an instrument of conveyance, shall meet the requirements of G.S. 47-30 for maps and plats, and shall identify:

(1)       The location and dimensions of the disposal areas with respect to permanently surveyed benchmarks; and

(2)       The type, location, and quantity of hazardous substances disposed of on the site, to the best of the owner's knowledge.

Where an Inactive Hazardous Substance or Waste Disposal Site is located on more than one parcel or tract of land, a composite map or plat showing all such sites may be recorded.

(b)        After the Department approves and certifies the Notice, the owner of the site shall file the certified copy of the Notice in the register of deeds' office in the county or counties in which the land is located.

(c)        The register of deeds shall record the certified copy of the Notice and index it in the grantor index under the names of the owners of the lands.

(d)        In the event that the owner of the site fails to submit and file the Notice required by this section within the time specified, the Secretary may prepare and file such Notice.  The costs thereof may be recovered by the Secretary from any responsible party.  In the event that an owner of a site who is not a responsible party submits and files the Notice required by this section, he may recover the reasonable costs thereof from any responsible party.

(e)        When an inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal site is sold, leased, conveyed, or transferred, the deed or other instrument of transfer shall contain in the description section, in no smaller type than that used in the body of the deed or instrument, a statement that the property has been used as a hazardous substance or waste disposal site and a reference by book and page to the recordation of the Notice.

(f)         A Notice of Inactive Hazardous Substance or Waste Disposal Site shall be cancelled by the Secretary after the hazards have been eliminated.  The Secretary shall send to the register of deeds of the county where the Notice is recorded a statement that the hazards have been eliminated and request that the Notice be cancelled of record.  The Secretary's statement shall contain the names of the landowners as shown in the Notice and reference the plat book and page where the Notice is recorded.  The register of deeds shall record the Secretary's statement in the deed books and index it on the grantor index in the name of the landowner as shown in the Notice and on the grantee index in the name 'Secretary of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources'.  The register of deeds shall make a marginal entry on the Notice showing the date of cancellation and the book and page where the Secretary's statement is recorded, and the register shall sign the entry.  If a marginal entry is impracticable because of the method used to record maps and plats, the register of deeds shall not be required to make a marginal entry.

(g)        This section shall apply with respect to any facility, structure, or area where disposal of any hazardous substance or waste has occurred which Recordation under this section is not required for any inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal site that is undergoing voluntary remedial action pursuant to this Part. Part unless the Secretary determines that either:

(1) A concentration of a hazardous substance or hazardous waste that poses a danger to public health or the environment will remain following implementation of the voluntary remedial action program.

(2) The voluntary remedial action program is not being implemented in a manner satisfactory to the Secretary and in compliance with the agreement between the Secretary and the owner, operator, or other responsible party.

(h) The Secretary may waive recordation under this section with respect to any residential real property that is contaminated solely because a hazardous substance or hazardous waste migrated to the property from other property by means of groundwater flow if disclosure of the contamination is required under Chapter 47E of the General Statutes.  An owner of residential real property whose recordation requirement is waived by the Secretary under this subsection and who fails to disclose contamination as required by Chapter 47E of the General Statutes is subject to both the penalties and remedies under this Chapter applicable to a person who fails to comply with the recordation requirements of this section as though those requirements had not been waived and to the remedies available under Chapter 47E of the General Statutes."

Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law. 

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of August, 1997.

s/   Dennis A. Wicker

President of the Senate

s/   Harold J. Brubaker

Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/   James B. Hunt, Jr.

Governor

Approved 11:40 a.m. this 17th day of September, 1997