The purpose of an IC registry is to allow an agency or stakeholders to access ICs within their jurisdiction. When a registry of ICs is assembled within an IC management program, the desired outcome is as follows:

• An agency has a complete inventory of ICs relied upon in remedies within the jurisdictional boundary. This inventory includes ICs that may have been entered into among agencies with overlapping geographic interest.
• The agency has entered key attributes of the IC into the database.
• The agency maintains an internal and external presentation of ICs.
• The agency maintains and confirms the completeness and accuracy of the contents of a registry at a proper frequency.

A detailed registry can also assure that this outcome can equally be reflected by the OP, or owner, who may hold one or many ICs.

After an IC is accepted as part of a remedy and implemented, the IC becomes part of a registry. As agencies manage multiple ICs, they may develop a process to assure that the IC information is input into the registry. Ultimately, an IC management program is only successful at those sites where the occurrence of ICs is recognized by the agency. For example, IC monitoring may fail if the IC does not appear in a registry. Or, if the IC has been terminated and the agency is unaware of this termination, the effectiveness of the IC is compromised and may delay the property’s return to full use.

Agency Use of a Registry

An agency may use the IC registry as an ongoing resource to inform location, monitoring, tracking, and maintenance of ICs. The registry is often part of a broader state land contamination management system. Use of the registry may include:

• scheduling IC obligations
• documenting points of contact for LTS roles and responsibilities
• preparing invoices for land stewardship
• describing inspection results
• documenting IC breaches or noncompliance
• describing response actions for noncompliance
• documenting IC compliance reporting
• tracking enforcement referrals
• managing ICs, terminated issuance, modification or termination of ICs, or permits
• generating and tracking periodic reporting and certification obligations, or other reporting responsibilities by the obligated party
• providing outreach to stakeholders

Public Use of an IC Registry

For the public, the IC registry is an authoritative resource to search for and learn about ICs. These uses may include:

• finding an IC via search form or map
• viewing the registry in a tabular (grid) format with multiple attributes and hyperlinks
• displaying the registry in a map view showing either the point or polygon limits of the IC
• determining what restrictions have been implemented on a site

Evaluation of Entry into IC Registries

In general, IC registries are developed for the structured attributes of the IC and for the storage of relevant documents; however, accurately describing the boundaries of ICs, graphically or with written text, often lags other information. States have built databases that allow the structured characterization of ICs, but the entries into the registries are not standardized across states or across agencies when there is overlap.

As the use of ICs is relatively low among cleanup sites, managers often lack the expertise to characterize ICs or to realize which elements of an IC are missing. For example, if the property covered by an IC is geographically described in metes and bounds, a manager may not be familiar with this English derived system that is used to describe general boundaries of a property.

Washington Department of Ecology’s identified shortcoming in their approach in that cleanup site managers typically have few sites where ICs are part of the remedy. As a result, most site managers are not familiar with the procedures necessary to document and describe an IC in the database. To improve the system, the Department of Ecology has implemented a policy that details every step in the process of implementing an IC. This policy includes a comprehensive list of the steps to be followed by the property owner and the state cleanup site manager. This process includes the initial drafting of the IC, the recording process, and entry into the state database (personal communication, Bob Wenzlau, Terradex).

Evaluation of Agency Use of IC Registry

Ideally, IC registries provide an authoritative and easy-to-use source of information about ICs, their characteristics, and location for agency use. Because ICs carry monitoring and inspection duties, having these obligations cataloged complements other representations of land use restrictions.

Registries often lack overview inventories of ICs. For example, in California the overview can only be formed through a search. Additionally, summary listings of IC affirmative obligations are difficult to create.

Evaluation of Public Use of IC Registries

Agencies interested in monitoring the performance of public use of IC registries can benefit by using standard data formats such as IC extensible markup language (XML), which allows user experience rather than data integrity to be assessed. Some commercial tools use IC XML standard data formats. Standard data formats allow application creators to focus on user experience rather than data integrity. The application then allows the public to easily find and understand the IC information.

Typically, the responsive framework first configures the application for mobile devices, a common means of public access to online information. Next, the application initially orients the map from the user’s location using the shared GPS coordinates. The ICs are sometimes called “Environmental Protections,” which more clearly communicates the relevance of the ICs. Finally, a common representation is given regardless of the jurisdictional source of the IC. For instance, ICs from USEPA are listed along with ICs from the state.

Entering an IC into a Registry

Entering an IC into a registry should generate an automatic notice to the agency when the proprietary IC is recorded (see California Case Study).

1. Create and implement a procedure to be followed by any cleanup site manager who may implement ICs as part of a remedy. This procedure offers instruction on the best and most consistent method for adding any new IC to the agency registry, catalog, or database.
2. Add a requirement that ICs include a decimal degree latitude and longitude location to describe the boundaries of the ICs (see New Jersey Case Study).
3. Require notice to the applicable regulatory agency of the IC if the ordinance is to be modified or terminated by the government entity.

Agency View and Use of an IC Registry

The registry allows characterization of proprietary controls, governmental controls, enforcement documents, engineering controls, and informational devices.

• The registry manages affirmative obligations.
• The IC inventory identifies sites with affirmative obligations and track deliverables such as groundwater monitoring submittals.
• The agency should assign a cleanup site manager to sites with affirmative obligations, especially in cases where ongoing data submittals require analysis.

Public Use of an IC Registry

The registry identifies parcels with land use restrictions, which aids members of the public who are considering property transactions.

• ICs should be searchable by location.
• Any use restrictions should be summarized in plain language without losing the full meaning and description of the IC.
• Geographic description of the IC should be given in latitude and longitude.
• Information on ICs should be able to be easily shared.
• IC iconography (symbolic representation) should be consistent and capable of communicating with all the potential users.