in Mississippi

those of the similar MDEQ program. Targeted Brownfields Assessments supplement and work
with other efforts under EPA's Brownfields Program to promote the cleanup and redevelopment
of brownfields. All local governments are eligible to apply for a TBA.
ENVIRONMENTAL COVENANTS
The Mississippi Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (MUECA), Code, § 89-23-1, et seq., is
one of the uniform acts drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws. The act provides clear rules for perpetual real estate interests – an environmental covenant
– to regulate the use of brownfield land when parties transfer real estate from one owner to
another.
When contaminated properties are remediated under the supervision of a governmental agency,
there are occasionally issues requiring a long-term Land Use Control (LUC) or Activity Use
Limitation (AUL) which regulatory officials seek to have recorded on the property title or deed
prior to clearing it for reuse. These LUCs or AULs may list prohibitions on future uses (i.e. no
residential housing, childcare facilities, wells, drilling), requirements for ongoing monitoring and
remediation (i.e. monitoring and vapor extraction wells) or note protective structures and
engineered controls. The purpose of MUECA is to ensure that future LUCs, which have been
created for a particular site, are not invalidated by conflicts or misunderstandings with other
local, state or federal regulations. MUECA seeks to make sure environmental covenants are
preserved and enforceable over a long term against successive owners by applying traditional
real estate law. Part of the philosophy is that if all parties to the covenant are confident MDEQ
will enforce site-appropriate activity and use limitations in the covenant, it is more likely that
environmental regulators and the owners of contaminated real property will allow those
properties to be developed, rather than continue to stand as abandoned and dangerous areas. The
goal is that redevelopment of the property will help revitalize those areas and serve the economic
and social interests of the nearby residents.
MDEQ and the CEQ enforce the covenants and any amendment or termination of the covenant
must be pursuant to Code, § 89-23-1, et seq.
UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS (GASOLINE & DIESEL)
In environmental law, an underground storage tank (UST) means any one or combination of
tanks (including any connected underground pipes) that is designed to contain an accumulation
of regulated substances, and the volume of which (including the volume of underground pipes
connected thereto) is ten percent or more beneath the surface of the ground. This category does
not include any farm or residential tank with capacity of 1,100 gallons or less that an owner uses
for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes, tanks used for storing heating oil for
consumptive use on the premises, or septic tanks.
The EPA charges the Office of Underground Storage Tanks with implementing the regulatory
program for USTs. However, in Mississippi the Underground Storage Tank Branch of the Office
of Pollution control of MDEQ carries out the implementation of the program. The UST
Assessment and Remediation Program investigates petroleum releases from USTs and oversees
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