Fund For North Carolina Underground Storage Tank For Residential Properties Gets Tanked

The state of North Carolina in its infinite wisdom has done away with a fund that helped to mitigate damage from abandoned underground storage tanks for residences. If you are buying or listing a property with an abandoned underground read this blog from the North Carolina Association of Realtors. This page provides information and resources about how changes to the underground storage tank fund impacts your clients and your business. Information will be updated as it becomes available. Overview One provision in this year’s state budget (H97) was the elimination of the noncommercial underground storage tank fund. Here are the details of the provision: Appropriates a nonrecurring sum to the Noncommercial Fund; Uses the remaining balance of the Noncommercial Fund to pay the cleanup costs of releases reported to the Department of Environmental Quality (formerly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) prior to October 1, 2015 and determined to pose unacceptable risk (the $2,000 deductible applies); Eliminates the Noncommercial Fund moving forward; and Provides temporary rules that alter the requirements for remediation when a leak from a noncommercial tank is discovered. NCAR believes this fund was vital to the protection of North Carolina’s environment and its property owners. The fund was established to reimburse property owners for costs incurred during the cleanup of soil and groundwater contamination resulting from the release of petroleum from an underground storage tank. While no hard data exists on the precise number of noncommercial underground storage tanks in North Carolina, a reasonable estimate is approximately 200,000. NCAR is concerned that the elimination of this fund could have a negative impact on the real estate market. The Government Affairs staff continues to work with members of the NCGA and Department of Environmental Quality staff to find ways to lessen any negative impacts this change will have on the market.