Wisconsin

Liability clarification letters and exemptions

Agency Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

When a hazardous substance is discharged in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says whoever caused it, or owns the land it happened on, has three duties: tell DNR, find out how far it spread, and restore the environment. Chapter 292 of the Wisconsin Statutes sets the exemptions below, and DNR also writes letters, for a fee, that set out its view of one party's liability at one property.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name state liability letters or exemptions among its standard record sources. They matter because they are property records. In DNR's tracking database (BRRTS), liability exemptions, liability clarifications and cleanup agreements are filed as General Property activities, numbered from 07, and the RR Sites Map has a layer for properties where DNR has written a clarification letter. Where the user, a seller or a lender mentions a DNR letter, ask for the letter itself and check the BRRTS record behind it.

Liability clarification letters

DNR says any person, local government or business may ask for a letter clarifying its liability for contamination at a property, and that such a letter answers questions specific to that property. DNR's examples include what a buyer or tenant would be liable for and how to avoid future liability. A request uses Form 4400-237 (Technical Assistance, Environmental Liability Clarification or Post-Closure Modification Request), goes through the RR Submittal Portal, and carries a $700 fee. DNR adds that it can write one letter for several properties affected by the same source, setting out when each owner could have the off-site exemption.

The exemptions in chapter 292

Local governments. DNR says a local government may be exempt for contaminated property it acquires through involuntary means, and that this exemption needs no DNR approval.
Lenders and representatives. Lenders may be exempt for ordinary lending, for property acquired through foreclosure, for inspecting property, for enforcing a security interest in personal property and fixtures, and for acting as a representative; DNR says most of these need no DNR approval. A lender that forecloses must meet conditions: it did not cause or worsen the contamination, it reports the contamination to DNR and takes any emergency action needed, and it completes an environmental assessment within 90 days of acquiring the property and submits it to DNR within 180 days. DNR says such an assessment usually includes a site visit, a review of historical and environmental records, and sampling, and that an assessment done more than a year before the lender acquired the property also needs a visual inspection and a DNR review. The submittal form is Form 4400-196 (Lender Liability Exemption Environmental Assessment Tracking). DNR notes the state exemption is no defense to federal liability or to federal or state storage tank laws.
Owners reached by contamination from elsewhere. Under Wis. Stat. § 292.13, the off-site exemption is open only to an owner who shows that the contamination came from another property, who did not possess or control the property where it began, and who did not possess or control the substance or cause its discharge. To keep it, the owner must give the responsible party and DNR reasonable access, avoid making the contamination worse or getting in the way of the response, and meet any other conditions DNR finds reasonable and necessary. DNR says the exemption applies whenever the statutory criteria are met, whether or not DNR writes a letter, and that a letter covers only the owner it is addressed to. The letter is requested on Form 4400-201 (Off-Site Liability Exemption Application) with a $700 fee. An exempt off-site owner may still have to keep up a land use control that the approved cleanup puts on the property.
Voluntary parties. A party that completes the Voluntary Party Liability Exemption (VPLE) process receives a certificate of completion.

DNR also says a person who leases contaminated property may not be liable if it did not cause or worsen the contamination. For unlicensed waste disposal sites, DNR's waste disposal sites page points to the exemptions that Wisconsin Act 418 (Wis. Stat. § 292.23) provided in 2006 for local governments and private parties.

Where to look a site up

BRRTS on the Web can limit a search to General Property activities.
The RR Sites Map has a liability clarification layer.
DNR's brownfield staff take site-specific questions on liability tools; they are listed on the RR Program staff contacts page.

Getting the file

DNR's residual contamination page says documents on BRRTS on the Web may include a site's closure letter; the pages read do not say whether liability letters are posted there. For a letter that is not online, DNR prefers records requests by email, to DNRRecordsResponse@wisconsin.gov, and accepts them in any format; see Public Records Request.

Sources

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