2007 Minnesota Statutes

114E.10 NATURE OF RIGHTS; ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY;
SUBORDINATION OF INTERESTS.
    (a) Any person, including a person that owns an interest in the real property subject to the
environmental convenant, the environmental agency, or any other political subdivision or unit
of local government, may be a holder. An environmental covenant may identify more than one
holder. The interest of a holder is an interest in real property. The holder is the grantee of the real
property interest conveyed under an environmental covenant.
    (b) Unless an environmental agency is a holder, any right that the agency may have with
respect to an environmental covenant does not constitute an interest in real property. Approval
of an environmental covenant does not make the environmental agency a holder unless it has
authority under law other than this chapter to acquire an interest in real property for purposes
related to an environmental response project and it is expressly identified as a holder in the
environmental covenant.
    (c) An environmental agency is bound by any obligation it assumes in an environmental
covenant, but an environmental agency does not assume obligations merely by signing an
environmental covenant. As provided in section 114E.15, an environmental covenant is not valid
unless signed by the environmental agency and the environmental agency may set reasonable
conditions for its approval of an environmental covenant. When the environmental agency is
a federal agency, the covenant must also be approved and signed by the state environmental
agency that has authority under state law to address the release or threatened release involved in
the environmental response project. Any other person that signs an environmental covenant is
bound by the obligations the person expressly assumes in the covenant, but signing the covenant
does not change obligations, rights, or protections granted or imposed under law other than this
chapter except as provided in the covenant.
    (d) The following rules apply to interests in real property in existence at the time an
environmental covenant is created or amended:
    (1) an interest that has priority under other law is not affected by an environmental covenant
unless the person that owns the interest subordinates that interest to the covenant;
    (2) this chapter does not require a person that owns a prior interest to subordinate that interest
to an environmental covenant or to agree to be bound by the covenant;
    (3) a subordination agreement may be contained in an environmental covenant or in a
separate record that is recorded. If the environmental covenant covers commonly owned property
in a common interest community, the environmental covenant or the subordination agreement
may be signed by any person authorized by the governing board of the owners' association; and
    (4) an agreement by a person to subordinate a prior interest to an environmental covenant
affects the priority of that person's interest but does not by itself impose any affirmative obligation
on the person with respect to the environmental covenant.
History: 2007 c 131 art 1 s 61