Wisconsin environmental records for a Phase I ESA

A Phase I records review in Wisconsin draws mostly on one state agency, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). DNR's Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program oversees investigation and cleanup at brownfields and voluntary cleanup sites, spill sites old and new, leaking underground tank sites, hazardous waste cleanups, closed solid waste facilities and Superfund sites, and it keeps the database most of those records live in. DNR also licenses landfills and hazardous waste facilities; its licensing staff for them sit in the Waste and Materials Management Program. Tank registration is the exception: DNR says another department keeps that record. This page maps each kind of record ASTM E1527-21 asks for to the Wisconsin program behind it, and links a page on each program.

The standard record types, in Wisconsin

How far each search reaches is on the ASTM search distances page.

Other Wisconsin records worth reading

These are not paired with a record type in the table above, but each answers a question a Wisconsin Phase I runs into.

• Bureau for Remediation and Redevelopment Tracking System (BRRTS): the database behind most cleanup records, and how its activity numbers are built.
• RR Sites Map: the same activities on a map, and what the map leaves off.
• Hazardous substance spills: what must be reported, including contamination found by sampling.
• Liability clarification letters and exemptions: letters on one property's liability, and the exemptions for neighbors, lenders and local governments.
• Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF): the dry cleaner cleanup fund, closed to new applicants since 2008.
• Development on historic fill sites and licensed landfills: DNR's review before building on an old dump or a landfill.
• Well construction reports and groundwater data: well records and well sample results.
• Remediation and Redevelopment Program services and fees: the letters and reviews DNR provides for a fee.
• Public Records Request: how DNR wants a records request for a Phase I framed.

The statute and rules most of these cleanups are measured against are on the NR 700 rule series page.

One department, and the agencies beside it

DNR says it is responsible for every environmental cleanup in Wisconsin except agricultural ones, which are DATCP's. Its RR Program page says every new contamination incident must by law be reported to DNR, which then passes oversight of some incidents to other agencies; cleanups of agricultural contaminants such as fertilizer and pesticides go to DATCP. DATCP runs the Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program (ACCP). A memorandum of understanding that state law required describes each department's functions in the agricultural chemical cleanup program.

The split shows in the records. DNR's tracking database has a jurisdiction field naming DNR's RR Program, DNR's Waste and Materials Management Program or DATCP for each activity. DNR's map page names the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) and the Department of Commerce among the agencies that may have overseen an activity, and sends requests for those complete files to DNR's RR program specialists. For tanks, DATCP keeps the registrations and DNR oversees cleanup when petroleum escapes from a tank. This handbook does not read DATCP's pages.

One search that crosses DNR's cleanup programs

BRRTS on the Web is DNR's public database of reports of possible contamination, contaminated properties, and cleanup and redevelopment work. One search covers leaking tank cases, environmental repair sites, spills, voluntary party sites, liability letters and the other activity types. The RR Sites Map shows the same activities on a map, with layers for landfills and waste sites, Superfund sites and continuing obligations. DNR's database page also links pages it labels Open Spill Incidents and Supplemental Datasets, which this handbook did not open.

DNR is plain about the limits. It says BRRTS holds only the public information DNR has received, that its data may have gaps, errors and delays, and that a listing may still name the original responsible party after the property changes hands. The map's page says the map leaves out spills that were contained or cleaned up at once with no case opened, activities not yet mapped, discharges never reported, and soil contamination left above residual contaminant levels at cleanups finished before August 1, 2002.

Old waste records sit apart. DNR's waste disposal sites page says its older Solid and Hazardous Waste Information Management System (SHWIMS) on the Web is no longer supported, and that information once found there is now requested by email from DNR's regional licensing, reporting and compliance specialists or DNRWasteManagement@wisconsin.gov. DNR's database page still links SHWIMS. The two pages disagree; the Historic Registry of Waste Disposal Sites page gives both.

Getting a file from DNR

A listing says a record exists. The reports and letters are in the file. DNR says email is its preferred way to receive a public records request, at DNRRecordsResponse@wisconsin.gov, though it accepts requests in any format and its Open Records Request Form 9500-096 is optional. Its public records page speaks to Phase I requests directly: DNR files records by program, not by facility, so it calls a request for every environmental record at a facility very inefficient. Name the kinds of records you want, give a date range, and add any identifier you have, such as a BRRTS activity number, facility ID or permit number. DNR says all persons are entitled to access its records, and that a record is released unless it is specifically exempt. Its open records policy, dated 2017, tells staff to fill small, straightforward requests within 10 business days where they can, and says a complex request must still be answered as soon as practicable and without delay. The Public Records Request page sets out the fees.

For one cleanup activity there is a shorter route. The BRRTS page says the DNR staff person shown near the bottom of an activity's details page is the one to ask for a review of more of DNR's records on it, and that questions about closed sites go to an RR program specialist, listed on DNR's RR Program staff contacts page. DNR's public records coordinator is at 608-266-2177. DNR's general line is 1-888-936-7463, answered from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and its 24-hour spill hotline is 1-800-943-0003.

Sources

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown:

• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
• Brownfields: Redevelopment Opportunities
• About the Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program
• An introduction to cleaning up contamination
• Resources for environmental professionals
• Remediation and Redevelopment Database and GIS Mapping
• Bureau for Remediation and Redevelopment Tracking System (BRRTS)
• RR Sites Map
• RR Sites Map layer information
• Residual contamination
• Voluntary cleanup and the Voluntary Party Liability Exemption (VPLE)
• Wisconsin Assessment Monies (WAM)
• Wisconsin Ready for Reuse Loan and Grant Program
• Financial Resources for Cleaning Up & Redeveloping Contaminated Properties
• Petroleum contamination and leaking underground storage tanks
• Historic and current waste disposal sites
• Regional licensing, reporting and compliance specialists
• Hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities
• Remediation & Redevelopment (RR) Program staff contacts
• Public Records Request
• Spills

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources document, read October 13, 2026:

• Manual Code 9521.1, Open Records Policy and Procedures, dated March 9, 2017, with a next review date of 2021