Inactive Hazardous Sites Program

OVERVIEW

An organizational change within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in February 2007 consolidated oversight of contaminated site remediation into the Division of Waste Management (DWM).

The Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, within the Superfund Section of the DWM, 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 (the agency having jurisdiction is noted):

• Contamination resulting from permitted activities or those that should have been permitted, intentional illegal discharges, and accidental discharges the result of willful neglect of regulations – The particular permitting agency having jurisdiction
• Hazardous waste spills (was a hazardous waste and not a product before the discharge) – DWM Hazardous Waste Section
• RCRA permitted sites - DWM Hazardous Waste Section
• Currently or formerly (closed after 1982) permitted solid waste landfills - DWM Solid Waste Section
• Petroleum spills – DWM Underground Storage Tank Section
• Federal Superfund cleanup of National Priorities List sites and NPL-caliber sites under special agreements with the US EPA – 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 (voluntary participants) – DWM Superfund Section’s Special Remediation Branch
• Manufactured gas plant sites participating in state initiative – DWM Superfund Section’s Special Remediation Branch
• Naturally occurring contamination – DWQ Aquifer Protection Section
• Contamination due to agricultural operations – DWQ Aquifer Protection Section
• Pollutant contamination in drinking water wells due to faulty construction  – DWQ Aquifer Protection Section

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 East and West Units. The Branch also has a unit dedicated to implementing the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program.  Click here for a regional map.

TRANSITION OF REMEDIATION

If you have been responding to a Notice of Violation issued by the Division of Water Quality Aquifer Protection Section (APS) prior to the February 2007 reorganization for contamination not related to the jurisdiction they have retained as described above, or have otherwise previously 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.  Remediating parties who want to conduct investigation and remediation activities under Branch approval should submit a Site Cleanup Questionnaire (link) which will assist staff in evaluating whether the site should be managed under direct oversight by the Branch or under our privatized Registered Environmental Consultant (REC) 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.