NR 700 rule series

Wisconsin cleanups rest on a statute and a set of rules. Chapter 292 of the Wisconsin Statutes, which one page of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) calls the Spills Law (another gives the name Spill Law to s. 292.11), says who must clean up contaminated sites. Chapters NR 700 to 799 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, the NR 700 rule series, give the steps and the standards. DNR says the Spills Law applies the same way to a fresh spill and to old contamination that has just come to light.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name a state's cleanup rules among its standard record sources. The rules decide what a Wisconsin record means: what a closed case required, what was allowed to stay in the ground, and what a later owner must keep doing. Reading a closure letter, or a continuing obligation on the Continuing obligations and residual contamination page, starts from these chapters.

The chapters a Phase I meets

DNR's rules page lists every chapter in the series. Among them, by the titles the page gives them:

Groundwater standards sit outside the series, in ch. NR 140, Wis. Adm. Code. DNR says most of Wisconsin's groundwater standards, though not all, match the federal drinking water standards.

What the rules allow

• Contamination may stay. DNR says Wisconsin does not require every bit of contamination to be removed, so approved cleanups often leave some in place under continuing obligations set in the closure letter.
• Flexible standards. DNR says its rules let a site develop its own soil performance standards and let groundwater recover by natural attenuation, the natural breakdown of the contamination over time.
• One program for state and federal cleanups. DNR has a One Cleanup Program Memorandum of Agreement with EPA's Region 5. DNR describes it as the first agreement between EPA and a state to cover cleanup requirements across several media, among them CERCLA, RCRA, TSCA and leaking underground tanks, and says it explains how meeting Wisconsin's standards can satisfy both agencies.
• Closure, and a second look. A responsible party asks for closure on Form 4400-202 (Case Closure Request) under ch. NR 726, and receives a case closure letter if the criteria are met. Where DNR does not recommend closure, its guidance RR-102 describes a reconsideration process.

Old closures

DNR's pages give two dates that matter for an older closure. The RR Sites Map does not show soil contamination left above residual contaminant levels (ch. NR 720) at cleanups completed before August 1, 2002. And where a closure letter written before June 2006 required a deed restriction, DNR says the continuing obligation is the one defined in that deed restriction. For an older closure, read the closure letter and any deed restriction rather than relying on the map.

DNR's rules page said, when read, that no rulemaking was under way, and that in September 2024 DNR stopped its rulemaking on scope statements for continuing obligations (RR-14-23) and soil cleanup (RR-15-23).

Where to read the rules

• DNR's Wisconsin Cleanup Laws and Rules page links each chapter on the Legislature's site.
• DNR's Resources for environmental professionals page links its closure forms and guidance, and a PDF it labels NR 700 Process and Timeline (RR-967), which this handbook did not open.
• For a question the guidance does not answer, DNR asks consultants to contact RR Program staff, listed on the RR Program staff contacts page.

Sources

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

• Wisconsin Cleanup Laws and Rules
• An introduction to cleaning up contamination
• Resources for environmental professionals
• About the Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program
• Residual contamination
• RR Sites Map
• Remediation & Redevelopment (RR) Program staff contacts