Current through August 26, 2024
(1) GENERAL. Unless otherwise directed by the
department, responsible parties shall immediately take action to halt a
hazardous substance discharge or environmental pollution and to minimize the
harmful effects of the discharge or environmental pollution to the air, lands
or waters of the state.
Note: Section
292.11(2) (a), Stats., and ch. NR 706 require that the
department be notified immediately of hazardous substance discharges.
(2)EMERGENCIES. For hazardous
substance discharges that pose an imminent threat to public health, safety or
welfare or the environment, responsible parties shall conduct all necessary
emergency immediate actions. Once the emergency situation is responded to,
responsible parties shall conduct any further response actions needed to
restore the environment to the extent practicable, unless the department
determines that no further response is necessary in accordance with s.
NR 708.09.
Note: Responsible parties are also required by
s.
323.71(1),
Stats., to immediately conduct emergency action to protect public health and
safety and to prevent damage to property in cooperation with local police and
fire departments, county sheriffs, and county offices of emergency
government.
(3)NON-EMERGENCIES.
(a) Responsible parties shall take all
necessary, non-emergency immediate actions to halt the discharge of a hazardous
substance and to contain, treat or remove discharged hazardous substances,
environmental media or both, in order to minimize the harmful effects of the
discharge to the air, lands and waters of the state and to restore the
environment to the extent practicable.
(b) A response to a hazardous substance
discharge and any related contaminated media shall be considered by the
department as a non-emergency immediate action when all of the following
criteria are met:
1. The discharge does not
pose an imminent threat to public health, safety, or welfare or the
environment.
2. The response does
not result in the excavation and disposal, treatment, or storage of more than
100 cubic yards of contaminated soil, debris, sediment, or a combination of
these media from a single site or facility, unless an alternative volume is
approved by the department.
3. The
discharge is responded to immediately after the hazardous substance discharge
occurs or is responded to immediately after discovery.
Note: Responsible parties are required to
notify the department immediately of a hazardous substance discharge, in
accordance with the requirements of ch. NR 706.
4. At the completion of the response action,
no further action is required by the department under s.
NR 708.09.
Note: If further action is required after a
non-emergency response action is taken, that action meets the definition of
"interim action" in s.
NR 700.03(29). The principal distinction
between a non-emergency immediate action and an interim action is that a site
investigation will generally be required in conjunction with an interim action
but not with a non-emergency immediate action. In addition, interim actions
will be closed out using the criteria in ch. NR 726, not the "no further
action" criteria in s.
NR 708.09.
(c) Responsible parties shall conduct
sampling at the completion of an immediate action, in accordance with the
requirements of ss.
NR 712.05 and
716.13, when any of the following
conditions are met:
1. The hazardous substance
discharge or environmental pollution is in contact with groundwater.
2. The amount, identity or duration of the
hazardous substance discharge or environmental pollution is unknown.
3. Where other site or facility conditions
indicate that sampling is necessary to confirm the adequacy of the immediate
action.
(4)SPECIFIC ACTIONS. Immediate actions may
include any of the following:
(a) Limiting
public access to the site or facility.
(b) Identifying, monitoring and mitigating
fire, explosion and vapor hazards, which may include free product removal. Free
product removal shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements of s.
NR 708.13
and documented in accordance with s.
NR 708.15.
(c) Visually inspecting the site or facility
and installing physical containment barriers such as berms, booms, dikes or
trenches.
(d) Preventing the
flushing of hazardous substances to sewer systems, state waters or
environmental media or habitats.
(e) Plugging or overpacking leaking
containers which contain or are suspected to contain hazardous
substances.
(f) Providing alternate
water supplies to persons whose water supply has been or is likely to be
affected by the migration of contamination.
(g) Removing hazardous substances from
leaking underground storage tank systems.
(h) Removing the contaminated soil, debris or
the hazardous substance that was discharged, in compliance with s.
NR 708.11(3) (e).
(i) Measuring for the presence of free
product, visually or through field samples or other appropriate
methods.
(5)EXEMPTIONS.
(a) The provisions of chs.
NR 712,
716 and
724 do not apply to immediate
actions conducted by responsible parties, unless compliance with a portion of
these chapters is specifically required in this chapter.
(b) Contaminated soils, as defined in s.
NR 718.03(5), that are excavated as part
of an immediate action are exempt from the storage requirements of s.
NR 718.05 and the solid waste regulatory requirements of
ch. 289, Stats., and chs.
NR 500 to
538, for a period of 72 hours
after the initial excavation of the contaminated soils.
(6)DOCUMENTATION.
(a) Unless par. (b) is applicable or unless
otherwise directed by the department, responsible parties shall prepare and
submit written documentation to the department describing the immediate actions
taken at their site or facility and the outcome of those actions, within 45
days after the initial hazardous substance discharge notification is given to
the department in accordance with the requirements of ch. NR 706.
(b) Where a discharge from a UST has
occurred, responsible parties shall prepare and submit written documentation to
the department within 20 days after notifying the department of a hazardous
substance discharge in accordance with the requirements of ch. NR
706.
(c) The written documentation
required of the responsible parties pursuant to par. (a) or (b) shall include
all of the following:
1. A statement
expressing the purpose of the submittal and the desired department action or
response.
2. Name, address and
telephone number of the responsible parties.
3. Location of the site or facility, or
discharge incident, including street address; quarter-quarter section,
township, range, and county; and the location information specified in s.
NR 716.15(5)
(d); latitude and longitude, and legal
description of lot, if located in platted area.
4. Any information required under ch. NR 706
that has not been provided to the department previously.
5. The type of engineering controls,
treatment or both and the effluent quality of any permitted or licensed
discharge.
6. The type, total
volume and final disposition of the discharged hazardous substance and
contaminated materials generated as part of the immediate action, including
legible copies of manifests, receipts and other relevant documents.
(d) Responsible parties may
include the information required in par. (c) with a final report and letter of
compliance required in s.
NR 708.09 which documents that the immediate response
action is complete and no further action is necessary to respond to a hazardous
substance discharge or environmental pollution, provided that the information
required in par. (c) is submitted within 45 days after the initial hazardous
substance discharge notification is given to the department.
It is the intent of the department to encourage submittal
of the notification information required in s. NR 708.05(6) with the no further
action information required in s.
NR 708.09, provided that the notification information is
submitted within 45 days. If the 45 day limit cannot be met, then 2 separate
submittals will be needed, if no further action is being documented for the
immediate response action.
