§ 106-678.  Authority to regulate fertilizers.

No county, city, or other political subdivision of the State shall adopt or continue in effect any ordinance or resolution regulating the use, sale, distribution, storage, transportation, disposal, formulation, labeling, registration, manufacture, or application of fertilizer. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county, city, or other political subdivision of the State from exercising its planning and zoning authority under Chapter 160D of the General Statutes or from exercising its fire prevention or inspection authority. Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality or the Environmental Management Commission to enforce water quality standards. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county, city, or other political subdivision of the State from adopting ordinances regulating fertilizers to protect water quality, provided that the ordinances have been approved by the Environmental Management Commission or the Department of Environmental Quality as part of a local plan or National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit application and do not exceed the State's minimum requirements to protect water quality as established by the Environmental Management Commission under Part 1 of Article 21 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county or city from exercising its authority to regulate explosive, corrosive, inflammable, or radioactive substances pursuant to G.S. 153A-128 or G.S. 160A-183. (2014-103, s. 2.4(b); 2015-241, s. 14.30(u); 2022-62, s. 9.)