Due to a recent organizational change within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, oversight of the assessment and cleanup of all historical non-permitted releases of non-petroleum hazardous substances and pollutants has been consolidated into one agency and now resides with the Division of Waste Management’s Superfund Section (SFS).  The SFS will also address all recent accidental releases of non-petroleum contaminants not related to permitted operations (or those activities that should have had a permit) with the exception of hazardous waste spills (the material was a hazardous waste and not a product before the release) which will continue to be regulated by the Division of Waste Management’s Hazardous Waste Section.

Oversight of cleanup of contamination resulting from permitted discharges, or discharges which should have been conducted under a permit, will continue to reside with the permitting agency that has authority.  The Aquifer Protection Section (APS) remains responsible for oversight of the assessment and cleanup of contamination at facilities where the contamination is: (1) the result of an activity permitted by their agency, (2) due to faulty well construction, (3) related to agricultural operations, or (4) due to natural conditions. All petroleum product releases will be handled by the Division of Waste Management’s Underground Storage Tank Section. 

Within the SFS, all remediation will fall under the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch with the exception of the remedial actions under the Dry Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act implemented by the Special Remediation Branch and federal Superfund actions supported by the Federal Remediation Branch and Site Assessment and Removal Branch. 

All correspondence regarding cleanup of non-petroleum contaminant releases at non-permitted sites should no longer be sent to the APS and should be forwarded to the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch instead.

If you have been responding to a Notice of Violation issued by the APS for contamination not related to the jurisdiction they have retained as described above, or have otherwise been working with them on contaminant cleanup activities, you will need to contact the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch about procedures necessary for any further work to be considered an approved cleanup.  This includes any sites where you may be conducting site assessment or have an approved Corrective Action Plan.  You will be able to continue work with the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch’s remedial action program. 

For consistency, and to address all contaminated media at the site with one approval process, all site assessment and remediation will proceed through Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act authority.  The Branch is working to make the transition of site cleanups under 15A NCAC 2L authority to Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act authority as smooth as possible.  Consolidating all the remediation authorities serves to make cleanup approval comprehensive (so you do not have to work with multiple agencies in resolving the various contaminated media at your site).  In general, if the remediation was in compliance with North Carolina groundwater standards and the APS’s soil to groundwater standards, your cleanup action should have met Branch cleanup levels under the Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act for the contaminants and areas investigated.  If there are areas of concern, contaminated media, or suspect contaminants that were not investigated in the previous work, maybe due to the limits of the authority of the APS, those items would need to be addressed.  The APS’s focus was groundwater quality restoration from a resource protection program.  The Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act provides the Branch with multi-media cleanup authority. 

If your site contamination is non-hazardous substance pollutants only, the Branch will work with you under 15A NCAC 2L authority rather than Inactive Hazardous Sites Act authority to address the site. 

OVERVIEW

The Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch is responsible for oversight and approval of the assessment and remediation of all historical, and any recent accidental, releases of hazardous substances and pollutants with the exceptions outlined below.  The Branch oversees remedial actions, conducts any necessary enforcement of assessment and remediation at sites deemed to be a priority, and conducts the work itself at orphaned sites when state resources are available for such.

Exceptions:

• Hazardous waste spills (was a hazardous waste and not a product before the discharge) – DWM Hazardous Waste Section 

• Petroleum spills – DWM Underground Storage Tank Section 

• Federal Superfund cleanup of National Priorities List sites – DWM Superfund Section’s Federal Remediation Branch

• Federal Superfund emergency response cleanup – DWM Superfund Section’s Site Evaluation and Removal Branch 

• Remedial action of dry cleaner sites – DWM Superfund Section’s Special Remediation Branch 

• Naturally occurring contamination – DWQ Aquifer Protection Section 

• Contamination resulting from permitted activities or those that should have been permitted – Various permitting agencies

The Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch implements the Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act and remediation authorities under the North Carolina groundwater standards found at 15A NCAC 2L and the Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substance Control Act.  All assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites overseen by the Branch will be conducted pursuant to the North Carolina Inactive Hazardous Site Response Act.  This Act was designed to address all contaminated media.  However, remediation at properties contaminated with non-hazardous substance pollutants only, will be conducted pursuant to the program’s other authorities.

Note that often people are confused by the name of the Branch and the Act.  “Inactive Hazardous Sites” by definition are any areas where a hazardous substance release has come to be located and would include active and inactive facilities and a variety of property types.  The term “inactive” refers to the fact that cleanup was inactive at large numbers of sites at the time of program enactment.

The Branch is organized into two regions: East and West.  Click here for a regional map.