AB 1055

This bill eliminates the existing dry cleaner environmental response program

and its associated fund and council and creates the revitalize Wisconsin program,

which is administered by the Department of Natural Resources.

The revitalize Wisconsin program created under the bill provides aid, in the

form of grants or direct services to local governments, dry cleaners, and private

parties, to address the discharge of a hazardous substance or the existence of

environmental pollution on the government's or person's property. Aid may be

provided for sites for which the site's owner or operator applied for assistance under

the dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal; brownfields; sites

that are exempt from the state's hazardous substance remediation laws (often called

the “spill law”); and sites that are subject to the spill law but that are owned by

private parties. The bill defines “private party” to include a bank, trust company,

savings bank, or credit union; a developer; a nongovernmental organization; and an

innocent landowner. The bill defines an “innocent landowner” as a property owner

that either 1) acquired the property prior to November 1, 2006, has continuously

owned the property since the date of acquisition, and can demonstrate, through

documentation, that the discharge or environmental pollution being addressed was

caused by another person and that the property owner did not know and had no

reason to know of the discharge or pollution when the owner acquired the property;

or 2) acquired the property on or after November 1, 2006, meets all of the previously

stated requirements, and can demonstrate, through documentation, that the

property owner conducted all appropriate inquiries in compliance with the federal

All Appropriate Inquiries rule under

40 CFR part 312

prior to acquiring the property.

The bill provides that DNR may not award aid to an applicant under the

revitalize Wisconsin program if the applicant caused the discharge or environmental

pollution unless the applicant is a dry cleaner that applied for assistance under the

dry cleaner environmental response program before its repeal. The bill also provides

that DNR may require an applicant to provide a match, either in cash or in-kind, for

any aid that is awarded under the program.

Activities for which aid may be provided under the program include removing

hazardous substances from contaminated media such as surface waters,

groundwater, or soil; investigating and assessing the discharge or environmental

pollution; removing abandoned containers; asbestos abatement; and restoring or

replacing a private potable water supply.

The bill also allows DNR to inspect any document in the possession of an

applicant or any other person if the document is relevant to an application for

financial assistance under the program.