Lawsuit Seeks To Shield Owners of Contaminated Land From Cleanup Costs
Business lobby says owners who didn't cause contamination shouldn't have to pay for cleanup.
Melissa Ingells/WPR
The legal arm of Wisconsin’s largest business lobbyist is mounting another challenge against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, seeking to bar the agency from enforcing the state’s spills law against innocent landowners.
The WMC Litigation Center, which is affiliated with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, is suing the DNR on behalf of Tomahawk couple Steven and Mary Benaszeski. The lawsuit filed in Jefferson County alleges the agency is holding the couple responsible for contamination they didn’t cause on property they own in the town of Monico.
The couple has been dealing with a petroleum spill left behind from underground storage tanks on the property, which was once the site of a gas station. The state’s spills law requires anyone who causes, possesses or controls a hazardous substance to clean it up.
The WMC Litigation Center wants a court to find the spills law violates the Benaszeskis’ constitutional rights by forcing the couple to be responsible for cleanup based solely on ownership of contaminated property. The law firm wants a judge to permanently bar the DNR from enforcing the law against the couple and anyone else in such cases.
“Steve and Mary are innocent landowners who are being punished by the DNR simply for owning property. This is an unconscionable abuse of power by the DNR,” WMC Litigation Center director Scott Rosenow said in a news release.
A DNR spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation.
According to the complaint, the Benaszeskis own a restaurant that’s been turned into a rental property, which they bought in 2001. More than 20 years later, the DNR said in a 2022 letter that the couple was responsible for addressing contamination that occurred long before they purchased the property.
In 1993, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation first discovered underground gas tanks during work on a highway project. Samples of the property’s soil and well water found elevated levels of volatile organic compounds.
That same year, the DNR notified then-owners Mike and Patti Modrow that they were responsible for minimizing harmful effects to the environment. When the Modrows later sold the property, the complaint claims the Benaszeskis were “completely unaware” of the contamination.
After the Benaszeskis failed to act, the DNR issued a notice of noncompliance and eventually filed a deed affidavit showing the property was contaminated. In 2025, the couple tested their water, which was safe for drinking. But the couple hasn’t tested their soil. Now, though they wish to sell, the complaint states the cleanup liability makes that “a nearly impossible task.”
The legal challenge comes months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court handed a victory to state environmental regulators in another case brought by WMC. First filed in 2021, that case questioned the DNR’s authority to force businesses to address PFAS contamination under the spills law without first designating the chemicals as hazardous substances through the state’s lengthy rulemaking process.
Environmental advocates have said the spills law is critical for environmental protection. Peg Sheaffer, spokesperson with Midwest Environmental Advocates, said in a statement that WMC is attempting to undermine the spills law.
“Enough is enough,” Sheaffer said. “We call on WMC to stop using the courts as a battleground for dismantling environmental safeguards.”
A GOP bill is seeking to exempt so-called innocent landowners from paying to clean up PFAS contamination they didn’t cause under the state’s spills law, but it doesn’t address other hazardous substances.
The DNR has been at odds with Republican lawmakers on that bill, saying in an October hearing that it would let polluters off the hook as currently written. The agency has since said the DNR and bill authors have had productive conversations on “narrow exemptions” to the law to protect innocent landowners.
Lawsuit seeks to shield some landowners from Wisconsin’s spills law was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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