State audit finds 11 unassessed former landfills in Alamance County

Eleven former landfill sites in Alamance County have never been investigated under North Carolina’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program, leaving local officials and property owners without a full accounting of what may still be buried there. The state auditor’s July 2026 performance audit says the county is part of a much wider failure: 534 of 688 identified pre-1983 landfill sites statewide had never been checked, about 78% of the total.

Dave Boliek’s audit of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality says the program, created in 2007, was supposed to track places where municipal solid waste was disposed of before modern oversight began on Jan. 1, 1983. The report warns that old dump sites may contain hazardous, medical or asbestos-containing material and may still emit methane, a combination that can affect groundwater, soil stability and the safety of nearby development.

That leaves Alamance County with a practical land-use problem as well as an environmental one. Unassessed former landfills can complicate stormwater planning, permitting and redevelopment if a site is later considered for housing, commercial use or public infrastructure. Without a formal assessment, county staff may have to map old sites, review historical records and decide whether testing, monitoring wells or remediation work is needed before land can be sold or built on.

The statewide concern is not abstract. The audit findings have been tied to former landfill sites near homes, schools and drinking-water sources, which is why the question of location matters so much in Alamance County. A buried waste site that went undocumented decades ago can still shape what gets built, who pays for testing and whether a property carries restrictions that surface only after a sale or a permit application.

The auditor’s report was addressed to Gov. Josh Stein, Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Destin Hall and DEQ Secretary D. Reid Wilson, putting the issue squarely in front of state leaders as local governments confront it on the ground. Alamance County’s own solid waste ordinance says county waste rules were established for the protection of public health and safety, and the county landfill website shows landfill operations remain an active part of county government. For Alamance County, the audit’s bottom line is simple: the county still has 11 old landfill sites that have not been fully assessed, and the costs of catching up could fall on taxpayers, property owners or developers if the risks are not documented now.