NC audit finds hundreds of former landfill sites remain uninvestigated

A state performance audit found that 534 of 688 identified former landfill sites have never been investigated through North Carolina’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Hundreds of former landfill sites across North Carolina have never been investigated for possible contamination despite a state program created to identify, assess and remediate the properties, according to a new performance audit released by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor.

The audit examined the Department of Environmental Quality’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, which was established in 2007 to address sites that accepted waste before modern environmental regulations took effect in 1983.

Of 688 identified sites where municipal solid waste was disposed of without regulatory oversight, 534, or 78%, have never been investigated through the program, according to the auditor’s office. As a result, the state does not know what contamination may be present at most of those sites, whether contaminants have spread or whether nearby residents face current risks.

The auditor’s office also reported that more than 80% of the identified landfill sites are within 1,000 feet of potentially vulnerable locations, including homes, schools, day care facilities, churches or drinking water wells.

“The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program is a complex issue that creates challenges from a regulatory, legal, funding, and administrative standpoint,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said. “But the bottom line is there are hundreds of potentially hazardous landfill sites across North Carolina, and despite tax dollars supporting a program meant to investigate these sites, 78% haven’t been examined.”

Program management estimates that investigating, assessing and remediating a site costs an average of approximately $1.9 million. Applying that average to the remaining sites would bring the potential cost close to $1 billion, according to the auditor’s office.

Since the program began, 97 sites have been investigated. The state has secured 370 acres of waste, sampled 1,642 water-supply wells and provided alternative water supplies to 30 homes.

DEQ’s Division of Waste Management agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendations, according to the auditor’s office.

The audit also includes a list of identified landfill sites and information about risk priorities, sites awaiting property-access permission and sites that have already been addressed.

The findings raise statewide questions about the pace and cost of evaluating former waste-disposal sites and the state’s ability to determine whether contamination poses risks to nearby communities.

Editor’s note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.