Back to Kentucky

HB552 • 2026

AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
S. Stalker
Last action
2026-02-10
Official status
02/10/26: to Natural Resources & Energy (H)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

What This Bill Does

  • AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-10 Kentucky Legislative Research Commission

    to Natural Resources & Energy (H)

  2. 2026-02-03 Kentucky Legislative Research Commission

    introduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)

Official Summary Text

AN ACT relating to environmental protection.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 1 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
AN ACT relating to environmental protection. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 224.1-010 is amended to read as follows: 3
As used in this chapter unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: 4
(1) "Air contaminant" includes smoke, dust, soot, grime, carbon, or any other 5
particulate matter, radioactive matter, noxious acids, fumes, gases, odor, vapor, or 6
any combination thereof; 7
(2) "Air contaminant source" means any and all sources of emission of air 8
contaminants, whether privately or publicly owned or operated. Without limiting 9
the generality of the foregoing, this term includes all types of business, commercial 10
and industrial plants, works, shops, and stores, and heating and power plants and 11
stations, buildings and other structures of all types, including single and multiple 12
family residences, apartments, hous es, office buildings, public buildings, hotels, 13
restaurants, schools, hospitals, churches, and other institutional buildings, 14
automobiles, trucks, tractors, buses and other motor vehicles, garages and vending 15
and service locations and stations, railroad lo comotives, ships, boats and other 16
waterborne craft, portable fuel -burning equipment, incinerators of all types (indoor 17
and outdoor), refuse dumps and piles, and all stack and other chimney outlets from 18
any of the foregoing; 19
(3) "Air pollution" means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one (1) or more air 20
contaminants in sufficient quantities and of such characteristics and duration as is or 21
threatens to be injurious to human, plant, or animal life, or to property, or which 22
unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property; 23
(4) "Closure" means the time at which a waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility 24
permanently ceases to accept wastes, and includes those actions taken by the owner 25
or operato r of the facility to prepare the site for post -closure monitoring and 26
maintenance or to make it suitable for other uses; 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 2 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
(5) "Compost" means solid waste which has undergone biological decomposition of 1
organic matter, been disinfected using composting or si milar technologies, been 2
stabilized to a degree which is potentially beneficial to plant growth and which is 3
approved for use or sale as a soil amendment, artificial topsoil, growing medium 4
amendment, or other similar uses; 5
(6) "Composting" means the proce ss by which biological decomposition of organic 6
solid waste is carried out under controlled aerobic conditions, and which stabilizes 7
the organic fraction into a material which can easily and safely be stored, handled, 8
and used in an environmentally acceptable manner: 9
(a) "Composting" may include a process which creates an anaerobic zone within 10
the composting material; 11
(b) "Composting" does not include simple exposure of solid waste under 12
uncontrolled conditions resulting in natural decay; 13
(7) "Demonstration" means the initial exhibition of a new technology, process or 14
practice or a significantly new combination or use of technologies, processes or 15
practices, subsequent to the development stage, for the purpose of proving 16
technological feasibility and cost effectiveness; 17
(8) "Cabinet" means the Energy and Environment Cabinet; 18
(9) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or 19
placing of any waste into or on any land or water so that such waste or any 20
constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or 21
discharged into any waters, including ground waters; 22
(10) "District" means an air pollution control district as provided for in KRS Chapter 77; 23
(11) "Effluent limitations" means any restrictions or prohib itions established under state 24
law which include, but are not limited to, effluent limitations, standards of 25
performance for new sources, and toxic effluent standards on quantities, rates, and 26
concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, and other con stituents which are 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 3 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
discharged into waters; 1
(12) "Generator" means any person, by site, whose act or process produces waste; 2
(13) "Materials recovery facility" means a solid waste management facility that provides 3
for the extraction from solid waste of recyclable materials, materials suitable for use 4
as a fuel or soil amendment, or any combination of those materials; 5
(14) "Municipal solid waste disposal facility" means any type of waste site or facility 6
where the final deposition of any amount of municipal solid waste occurs, whether 7
or not mixed with or including other waste allowed under Subtitle D of the Federal 8
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended, and includes but is 9
not limited to incinerators and waste -to-energy facilities that b urn municipal solid 10
waste and contained and residential landfills, but does not include an advanced 11
recycling facility or a waste site or facility which is operated exclusively by a solid 12
waste generator on property owned by the solid waste generator which accepts only 13
industrial solid waste from the solid waste generator or industrial solid waste 14
generated at another facility owned and operated by the generator or wholly -owned 15
subsidiary, or a medical waste incinerator which is owned, operated, and located on 16
the property of a hospital or university which is regulated by the cabinet and used 17
for the purpose of treatment, prior to landfill, of medical waste received from the 18
generator exclusively or in combination with medical waste generated by 19
professionals or facilities licensed or regulated or operated by the Commonwealth; 20
(15) "Municipal solid waste reduction" means source reduction, waste minimization, 21
reuse, recycling, composting, and materials recovery; 22
(16) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation 23
(including a government corporation), partnership, association, federal agency, state 24
agency, city, commission, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or any 25
interstate body; 26
(17) "Post-closure monitoring and maintenanc e" means the routine care, maintenance, 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 4 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
and monitoring of a solid waste or hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal 1
facility following closure of the facility; 2
(18) "Publicly owned treatment works" means any device or system used in the 3
treatment (i ncluding recycling and recovery) of municipal sewage or industrial 4
wastes of a liquid nature which is owned by the Commonwealth or a political 5
subdivision of the Commonwealth; 6
(19) "Recovered material" means those materials, including but not limited to co mpost, 7
which have known current use, reuse, or recycling potential, which can be feasibly 8
used, reused, or recycled, and which have been diverted or removed from the solid 9
waste stream for sale, use, reuse, or recycling, whether or not requiring subsequent 10
separation and processing, but does not include materials diverted or removed for 11
purposes of energy recovery or combustion except refuse -derived fuel (RDF), 12
which shall be credited as a recovered material in an amount equal to that 13
percentage of the muni cipal solid waste received on a daily basis at the processing 14
facility and processed into RDF; but not to exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the total 15
amount of the municipal solid waste received at the processing facility on a daily 16
basis. Notwithstanding an y provision of law to the contrary, tire -derived fuel, as 17
defined in subsection (53) of this section, shall be considered a recovered material; 18
(20) "Recovered material processing facility" means a facility engaged solely in the 19
storage, processing, and re sale or reuse of recovered material, but does not mean a 20
solid waste management facility if solid waste generated by a recovered material 21
processing facility is managed pursuant to this chapter and administrative 22
regulations adopted by the cabinet; 23
(21) "Recycling" means any process by which materials which would otherwise become 24
solid waste are collected, separated, or processed and reused or returned to use in 25
the form of raw materials or products, including refuse-derived fuel when processed 26
in accordance with administrative regulations established by the cabinet, but does 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 5 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
not include the incineration or combustion of materials for the recovery of energy; 1
(22) "Refuse-derived fuel" means a sized, processed fuel product derived from the 2
extensive separatio n of municipal solid waste, which includes the extraction of 3
recoverable materials for recycling and the removal of nonprocessables such as dirt 4
and gravel prior to processing the balance of the municipal solid waste into the 5
refuse-derived fuel product; 6
(23) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet; 7
(24) "Sewage system" means individually or collectively those constructions or devices 8
used for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of liquid or waterborne 9
sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes; 10
(25) "Termination" means the final actions taken by the cabinet as to a solid waste or 11
hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility when formal responsibilities 12
for post-closure monitoring and maintenance cease; 13
(26) "Waste site or facility" means any place where waste is managed, processed, or 14
disposed of by incineration, landfilling, or any other method, but does not include a 15
container located on property where solid waste is generated and which is used 16
solely for the purpose of collection and temporary storage of that solid waste prior 17
to off -site disposal, or a recovered material processing facility, or an advanced 18
recycling facility, or the combustion of processed waste in a utility boiler; 19
(27) "Storage" means t he containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a 20
period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such wastes; 21
(28) "Transportation" means any off -site movement of waste by any mode, and any 22
loading, unloading, or storage incidental thereto; 23
(29) "Treatment" means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, 24
designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of 25
any waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste 26
nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 6 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
reduced in volume. Such term includes any activity or processing designed to 1
change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to 2
render it nonhazardous; 3
(30) "Waste" means: 4
(a) "Solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded 5
material, including solid, liquid, semi -solid, or contained gaseous material 6
resulting from industrial, commercial, mining (excluding coal mining wastes, 7
coal mining by-products, refuse, and overburden), agricultural operations, and 8
from community activities, but does not include those materials including, but 9
not limited to, sand, soil, rock, gravel, or bridge debris extracted as part of a 10
public road construction project funded wholly or in part with state funds, 11
recovered material, post -use polymers or recovered feedstocks, tire -derived 12
fuel, special wastes as designated by KRS 224.50 -760, solid or dissolved 13
material in domestic sewage, manure, crops, crop residue, or a combination 14
thereof which are placed on the soil for return to the soil as fertilizers or soil 15
conditioners, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or 16
industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 17
402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or 18
source, special nuclear , or by -product material as defined by the Atomic 19
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923): 20
1. "Household solid waste" means solid waste, including garbage and trash 21
generated by single and multiple family residences, hotels, motels, 22
bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, and recreational areas such 23
as picnic areas, parks, and campgrounds, but it does not include tire -24
derived fuel; 25
2. "Commercial solid waste" means all types of solid waste generated by 26
stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other service and 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 7 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
nonmanufacturing activities, excluding tire -derived fuel and household 1
and industrial solid waste; 2
3. "Industrial solid waste" means solid waste generated by manufacturing 3
or industrial processes that is not a hazardous waste or a special waste as 4
designated by KRS 224.50 -760, including but not limited to waste 5
resulting from the following manufacturing processes: electric power 6
generation; fertilizer or agricultural chemicals; food and related products 7
or by -products; inorganic chemicals ; iron and steel manufacturing; 8
leather and leather products; nonferrous metals 9
manufacturing/foundries; organic chemicals; plastics and resins 10
manufacturing; pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous 11
plastic products, except tire-derived fuel; stone, glass, clay, and concrete 12
products; textile manufacturing; transportation equipment; and water 13
treatment; and 14
4. "Municipal solid waste" means household solid waste and commercial 15
solid waste; and 16
(b) "Hazardous waste" means any discarded material or m aterial intended to be 17
discarded or substance or combination of such substances intended to be 18
discarded, in any form which because of its quantity, concentration or 19
physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly 20
contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or 21
incapacitating reversible, illness or pose a substantial present or potential 22
hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, 23
transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed; 24
(31) "Waste management district" means any county or group of counties electing to 25
form under the provisions of KRS Chapter 109 and operate in conformance with the 26
provisions of KRS Chapter 109 and with Section 4006, Resource Conservation and 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 8 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (Public Law 94-580); 1
(32) "Water" or "waters of the Commonwealth" means and includes any and all rivers, 2
streams, creeks, lakes, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, marshes, and 3
all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial,[: 4
(a) Navigable waters, as defined in 33 U.S.C. sec. 1362; 5
(b) Sinkholes with open throat drains; 6
(c) Naturally occurring artesian or phreatic springs, as well as any other spring used as 7
a source of domestic water supply; and 8
(d) Wellhead protection areas; 9
] that are situated wholly or partly within or bordering upon the Commonwealth or 10
within its jurisdiction; 11
(33) "Water pollution" means the alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, 12
biological, or radioacti ve properties of the waters of the Commonwealth in such a 13
manner, condition, or quantity that will be detrimental to the public health or 14
welfare, to animal or aquatic life or marine life, to the use of such waters as present 15
or future sources of public wa ter supply or to the use of such waters for 16
recreational, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other legitimate purposes; 17
(34) "Pollutant" means and includes dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, 18
sewage, sewage sludge, garbage, chemical, biological or radioactive materials, heat, 19
wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, soil, industrial, municipal or 20
agricultural waste, and any substance resulting from the development, processing, 21
or recovery of any natural resource which may be discharged into water; 22
(35) "NPDES" means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System; 23
(36) "Manifest" means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, and the 24
origin, routing, and destination of waste during its transportation from the point of 25
generation to the point of disposal, treatment, or storage; 26
(37) "Open dump" means any facility or site for the disposal of solid waste which does 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 9 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
not have a valid permit issued by the cabinet or does not meet the environmental 1
performance standards established under regulations promulgated by the cabinet; 2
(38) "Solid waste management" means the administration of solid waste activities: 3
collection, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal, 4
which shall be in accordance with a cabi net-approved county or multicounty solid 5
waste management plan; 6
(39) "Solid waste management area" or "area" means any geographical area established 7
or designated by the cabinet in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; 8
(40) "Solid waste managemen t facility" means any facility for collection, storage, 9
transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, or disposal of solid waste, whether 10
such facility is associated with facilities generating such wastes or otherwise, but 11
does not include a container located on property where solid waste is generated and 12
which is used solely for the purpose of collection and temporary storage of that 13
solid waste prior to off -site disposal, or a recovered material processing facility or 14
advanced recycling facility, both of which are otherwise subject to regulation 15
pursuant to this chapter for control of environmental impacts and to prevent any 16
public nuisance; 17
(41) "Hazardous constituent" shall conform to the requirements of the Resource 18
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended; 19
(42) "Land disposal" includes but is not limited to any placement of hazardous waste in 20
a landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile, injection well, land treatment facility, 21
salt dome formation, salt bed formation, or underground mine or cave; 22
(43) "Key personnel" means an officer, partner, director, manager, or shareholder of five 23
percent (5%) or more of stock or financial interest in a corporation, partnership, or 24
association or parent, subsidiary, or affiliate corporation and its officers , directors, 25
or shareholders of five percent (5%) or more of stock or financial interest; 26
(44) "Universal collection" means a municipal solid waste collection system which is 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 10 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
established by ordinance and approved by the cabinet and requires access for each 1
household or solid waste generator in a county. A commercial or industrial entity 2
which transports or contracts for the transport of the municipal solid waste it 3
generates or which operates a solid waste management facility for its exclusive use 4
may be excluded from participation; 5
(45) "Governing body" means a county, a waste management district, an entity created 6
pursuant to the Interlocal Cooperation Act, a taxing district created pursuant to the 7
provisions of KRS 65.180 to 65.192, a special district created pursuant to the 8
provisions of KRS 65.160 to 65.176, or counties acting under contract pursuant to 9
KRS 109.082; 10
(46) "Convenience center" means a facility that is manned during operating hours for the 11
collection and subsequent transportation of municipal solid wastes; 12
(47) "Transfer facility" means any transportation related facility including loading 13
docks, parking areas, and other similar areas where shipments of solid waste are 14
held or transferred during the normal course of transportation; 15
(48) "Collection box" means an unmanned r eceptacle utilized to collect municipal solid 16
waste; 17
(49) "Newsprint" means that class or kind of paper chiefly used for printing newspapers 18
and weighing more than twenty -four and one -half (24 1/2) pounds, but less than 19
thirty-five (35) pounds for five hun dred (500) sheets of paper two (2) feet by three 20
(3) feet in size, on rolls that are not less than thirteen (13) inches wide and twenty -21
eight (28) inches in diameter and having a brightness of less than sixty (60); 22
(50) "Postconsumer waste paper" means dis carded paper after it has served its intended 23
use by a publisher; 24
(51) "Publisher" means a person engaged in the business of publishing newspapers, 25
advertisement flyers, telephone books, and other printed material; 26
(52) "Recycled content" means the proport ion of fiber in newsprint that is derived from 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 11 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
postconsumer waste paper; 1
(53) "Tire-derived fuel" or "TDF" means a product made from waste tires to the exact 2
specifications of a system designed to accept tire -derived fuel as a primary or 3
supplemental fuel source, that have been reduced to particle sizes not greater than 4
two (2) inches by two (2) inches and that is destined for transportation from the 5
waste tire processor for use as a fuel. "Tire -derived fuel" shall not mean refuse -6
derived fuel; 7
(54) "Industrial energy facility" means a facility that produces transportation fuels, 8
synthetic natural gas, chemicals, or electricity through a gasification process using 9
coal, coal waste, or biomass resources, and costing in excess of seven hundred fifty 10
million dollars ($750,000,000) at the time of construction; 11
(55) "Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post -12
use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, 13
feedstocks, chemicals, and other products throu gh processes that include pyrolysis, 14
gasification, depolymerization, catalytic cracking, reforming, hydrogenation, 15
solvolysis, and other similar technologies. "Advanced recycling" does not include 16
energy recovery or the conversion of post -use polymers into fuel substitutes for use 17
in energy production; 18
(56) "Advanced recycling facility" means a manufacturing facility that receives, stores, 19
and converts post -use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using 20
advanced recycling; 21
(57) "Depolymerization" m eans a manufacturing process where post -use polymers are 22
broken into smaller molecules such as monomers and oligomers or raw, 23
intermediate, or final products, plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and 24
unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons; 25
(58) "Gasification" means a process through which post -use polymers and recovered 26
feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel and gas mixture in an oxygen -27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 12 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
deficient atmosphere, and then converted into raw, intermediate, and final products; 1
(59) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic polymer that: 2
(a) Is derived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic 3
activities; 4
(b) Is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste on -site or during processing 5
at the advanced recycling facility; 6
(c) Has a use or intended use as a feedstock for the manufacturing of other 7
feedstocks, raw materials, intermediate products, or final products using 8
advanced recycling; 9
(d) Has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste, but may contain 10
residual amounts of solid waste and incidental contaminants or impurities; and 11
(e) Is processed at an advanced recycling facility or held at such facility prior to 12
processing; 13
(60) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post -use polymers are 14
heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed, and are 15
then cooled, condensed, and converted into raw materials, intermediate products, or 16
final products; 17
(61) (a) "Recovered feedstock" means one (1) or more of the fo llowing materials that 18
has been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced 19
recycling facility: 20
1. Post-use polymers; and 21
2. Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency 22
has made a nonwaste determination pursuant t o applicable federal 23
requirements or has otherwise determined are feedstocks and not solid 24
waste. 25
(b) "Recovered feedstock" does not include: 26
1. Unprocessed municipal solid waste; or 27
UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 1097
Page 13 of 13
XXXX 2/3/2026 9:21 AM Jacketed
2. Material that is mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste on -site or 1
during processing at an advanced recycling facility; and 2
(62) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post -use polymers are 3
purified with the aid of solvents while heate d at low temperatures or pressurized to 4
make raw materials, intermediate products, or final products, while allowing 5
additives and contaminants to be removed. "Solvolysis" includes but is not limited 6
to hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis[; and 7
(63) "Wellhead protection area" means and includes all wellhead protection areas as 8
defined in 42 U.S.C. sec. 300h-7(e) and as determined by the cabinet pursuant to its 9
obligations under 42 U.S.C. sec. 300h-7(a)]. 10