(a) The Alabama Department of Environmental Management shall establish and maintain a registry that contains all environmental covenants and any amendment or termination of those covenants. The registry may also contain any other information concerning environmental covenants and the real property subject to them which the department considers appropriate. The registry is a public record for purposes of Section 36-12-40.
(b) After an environmental covenant or an amendment or termination of a covenant is filed in the registry established pursuant to subsection (a), a notice of the covenant, amendment, or termination that complies with this section may be recorded in the land records in lieu of recording the entire covenant. Any such notice must contain all of the following:
(1) A legally sufficient description and any available street address of the real property subject to the covenant.
(2) The name and address of the owner of the fee simple interest in the real property, the agency, and the holder if other than the agency.
(3) A statement that the covenant, amendment, or termination is available in a registry at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which discloses the method of any electronic access.
(4) A statement that the notice is notification of an environmental covenant executed pursuant to this chapter.
(c) A statement in substantially the following form, executed with the same formalities as a deed in this state, satisfies the requirements of subsection (b):
"1. This notice is filed in the land records of the Probate Office of _______ County, Alabama, pursuant to Section 35-19-12 of the Alabama Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
"2. This notice and the covenant, amendment, or termination to which it refers may impose significant obligations with respect to the property described below.
"3. A legal description of the property is attached as Exhibit A to this notice. The address of the property that is subject to the environmental covenant is [insert address of property] [not available].
"4. The name and address of the owner of the fee simple interest in the real property on the date of this notice is [insert name of current owner of the property and the owner's current address as shown on the tax records of the jurisdiction in which the property is located].
"5. The environmental covenant, amendment, or termination was signed by the Director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
"6. The environmental covenant, amendment, or termination was filed in the registry on [insert date of filing].
"7. The full text of the covenant, amendment, or termination and any other information required by the agency is on file and available for inspection and copying in the registry maintained for that purpose by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management."
Last modified: May 3, 2021