(a) If a legal impediment prevents an environmental covenant from being entered into, an owner of real property shall, after receiving authorization from the department, record a notice of an activity and use limitation into the appropriate public land records. Failure to record a notice of an activity and use limitation may result in disapproval of the environmental response project.

(b) Once the owner or other person assumes an obligation under a notice of activity and use limitation, that owner or person shall comply with those obligations in accordance with AS 46.04.300 - 46.04.390.

(c) The enactment, modification, or termination of a notice of activity and use limitation is not valid until it is approved by the department.

(d) A notice of activity and use limitation must remain in place for current and subsequent landowners unless it is terminated under (e) or (m) of this section.

(e) A person who proposes to create, modify, or terminate a notice of activity and use limitation shall provide written notice of the person's intention to the department, to all persons holding an interest of record in the real property that will be subject to the notice of activity and use limitation, to all persons known to the person to have an unrecorded interest in the property, and to all affected persons in possession of the property before the creation, modification, or termination, and shall provide the department with

(1) a copy of the notice provided;

(2) a list of the persons to whom notice was given and the address or other location to which the notice was directed; and

(3) title information required by the department.

(f) Before unilaterally issuing a notice of activity and use limitation, the department shall provide a copy of the proposed notice of activity and use limitation to all persons holding an interest of record in the real property subject to the notice of activity and use limitation, all persons known to the department to have an unrecorded interest in the property, and all affected persons in possession of the property, and shall offer the persons a minimum of 30 days to comment on the proposed notice of activity and use limitation, unless notice has already been provided under (e) of this section. In determining whether to issue the notice of activity and use limitation unilaterally, the department shall consider any comments received. For a notice of activity and use limitation affecting a land or mineral interest of the Department of Natural Resources, concurrence from the Department of Natural Resources is required.

(g) The department shall review and make a determination regarding all requests to create, modify, or terminate a notice of activity and use limitation within 90 days after receiving a request that includes all the information described in (a) of this section.

(h) Upon issuance or approval of a notice of activity and use limitation, the department shall record the notice in every recording district in which a portion of the real property that is subject to the activity and use limitation is located. For approved notices, the department may allow the owner of the property to record the notice. A person may not record a notice without the department's written approval.

(i) Unless there is a legal impediment that prevents entering into an environmental covenant, the department may authorize that any notice of activity and use limitation created in accordance with this section be replaced by an environmental covenant on the property that is subject to the notice of activity and use limitation. The department may condition its authorization and approval of the termination of the notice of activity and use limitation on the terms of the notice of activity and use limitation, department approval and acceptance, and the effective recording of the environmental covenant.

(j) Modification or termination of a notice of activity and use limitation shall be recorded as provided in (h) of this section. A person may not record a modification or termination of a notice of activity and use limitation without the department's written approval.

(k) A determination by the department to issue, approve, modify, or terminate a notice of activity and use limitation is subject to appeal under the procedures described in AS 46.04.890.

(l) A notice of activity and use limitation, whether recorded or unrecorded, is not

(1) a servitude arising from an environmental response project; or

(2) an interest in real property.

(m) The department shall terminate a notice of activity and use limitation for real property if the notice of activity and use limitation was required solely because of the level or concentration of residual contamination on the property, and the department determines that level or concentration of residual contamination does not endanger human health, safety, or welfare, or the environment. The department shall provide notice of a termination under this subsection to all persons holding an interest of record in the real property subject to the notice of activity and use limitation, all persons known to the department to have an unrecorded interest in the property, and all affected persons in possession of the property.