Land Recycling Program (LRP)

The Land Recycling Program (LRP) of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) allows owners or other stakeholders of a property to voluntarily assess and implement remedial actions at a site that is contaminated or is perceived to be contaminated. After the assessment and the appropriate cleanup or other remedies, DNR provides a No Further Action Certificate, which DNR says provides limited liability protection from further regulatory action relative to the problems addressed.

In a Phase I ESA

LRP sites are the Iowa form of the state voluntary cleanup records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. DNR names no list of LRP sites; pairing the program with this record type is the handbook's reading. The general reading of a voluntary cleanup listing is on the VCP page. Four Iowa details shape how to read one.

• The certificate covers the problems addressed. DNR ties the liability protection to the problems the assessment and cleanup addressed. Compare what the certificate covers with the property in front of you.
• Assessments bring in the largest group. On its Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites page DNR says sites come to its attention in various ways, and that the largest group consists of properties that have been the subject of environmental assessments, generally associated with real estate transfers.
• The control instrument changed in 2005. The Uniform Environmental Covenants Act took effect July 1, 2005. DNR says the act created a new real estate instrument, the environmental covenant, which replaces the "environmental easement" used in the LRP, and that DNR would not approve environmental easements in the existing format after that date. See Environmental covenants and institutional controls.
• Brownfield cleanup grants require it. DNR's brownfield page says its cost-share for cleanup of soil or groundwater contaminants requires enrollment in the LRP, which it calls a certified cleanup program.

The law and the standards

The 1997 Iowa Legislature adopted Iowa Code Chapter 455H, the Iowa Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act. DNR says the program's rules in Chapter 137 took effect on October 27, 1998, were amended effective August 25, 2004, and were updated in September 2026 to become Chapter 105.200. DNR's Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites page cites the program as 567 IAC 105.200.

DNR links Statewide Standards, which it describes as standards prescribed in the LRP that represent concentrations of contaminants in groundwater and soil for which normal, unrestricted exposure is considered unlikely to pose a threat to human health. It also links a Cumulative Risk Calculator, which it says can assess risk to potentially exposed parties under three standard exposure scenarios, from multiple contaminants and multiple media.

DNR says Chapter 105.203(4)a requires the hourly rate it charges for oversight costs to be published each year. DNR's page, read October 12, 2026, gives the hourly rate for July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 as $76.39 and gives none for a later period. The program page links the LRP Enrollment Application Form (542-1547), a Participation Agreement Form (542-0555) and DNR's instructions for enrollment.

Where to look a site up

The pages read name no separate list of LRP sites. DNR describes its Contaminated Sites Database as holding sites that are not petroleum UST related, where DNR has reviewed environmental assessment data reported through voluntary assessments or reports of hazardous conditions, or has given regulatory direction or oversight. Search it for the property; see Contaminated Sites Database. DNR's Document Search lists a Land Quality - Contaminated Sites program.

Getting the file

DNR's Records Center, at 6200 Park Ave, Suite 200, Des Moines, is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except state holidays. DNR's Open Records Request page says requests to inspect public records go to the Office of the Chief Information Officer through the Iowa Information and Public Records Request Portal, and may also be made in person at a record center, by email to dnr.records.request@dnr.iowa.gov, or by mail. See DNR Records Center and Document Search.

Sources

Iowa Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 12, 2026:

• Land Recycling Program, last modified September 21, 2026.
• Hazardous Waste & Contaminated Sites, last modified September 21, 2026.
• Brownfield Redevelopment, last modified February 12, 2025.
• Open Records Request, last modified March 13, 2026.