Natural Resources and Energy

Amend KRS 15.460 to allow Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources game wardens to receive annual supplements from the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program fund; remove the requirement that a game warden's annual training stipend be paid from the game and fish fund; amend KRS 150.010 to remove the definitions for "administrative regulation," "navigable waters," and "public roadway"; add definitions for "exotic wildlife," "native wildlife," and "roadway" and amend the definition for "livestock"; amend KRS 150.021 to remove the requirement that the department pay a fee equal to 5% of the debt service for the 2-way radio system utilized by the Kentucky State Police; amend KRS 150.025 to allow the department or the commissioner, with the approval of the commission, to promulgate administrative regulations to carry out the purposes of KRS Chapter 150; amend KRS 150.027 to require the department to file a statement of consideration at the same time as it files an administrative regulation that affects property that is adjacent to department-owned or controlled lakes; amend KRS 150.061 to require the commissioner of the department to establish a salary structure for the department's Division of Law Enforcement that is adequate to meet the department's recruitment and retention goals; amend KRS 150.090 to provide that waters bordering the Commonwealth are included in the jurisdiction of game wardens; amend KRS 150.120 to provide that native and exotic wildlife that are taken, possessed, or transported in violation of the provisions of KRS Chapter 150 or the administrative regulations promulgated thereunder shall be seized; require that upon seizure, native wildlife or any hybrid thereof shall be declared contraband and disposed of as determined by the commissioner; amend KRS 150.150 to conform and to provide that the $25,000 set aside annually for hunger relief is not required to be taken from the game and fish fund; amend KRS 150.170 to change the reference from "disposal" tag to "carcass tag" for the taking of depredating wildlife; amend KRS 150.172 to allow a person to use a firearm at any time to take a mortally wounded animal instead of an injured animal; amend KRS 150.360 to allow the taking of wildlife at night instead of only coyotes and to conform; amend KRS 150.660 to allow the department to revoke a pay lake operator's license at all of his or her licensed locations for failure to comply with the laws or regulations governing pay lakes; amend KRS 150.690 to change the references from "buffalo" to "American bison"; amend KRS 150.990 double all fines for violations of KRS Chapter 150 and to establish replacement costs for certain wildlife; amend KRS 150.995 to provide that any restitution amount to be paid to the department for the illegal taking of wildlife that would exceed $10,000 shall be panel scored by 2 official scorers; allow the commissioner or a designee to seek an order from the court for payment of restitution costs in any action in which a person is found guilty for a violation of KRS Chapter 150 and for which restitution costs are owed; amend KRS 235.250 to increase the property damage threshold for the mandatory reporting requirement for boating accidents.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 353 to establish the purposes of the Act; define terms; require and specify the types of permits before constructing or operating a carbon dioxide facility; exempt enhanced oil or gas recovery under KRS 353.592; require any oil, natural gas or coalbed methane well converted to a carbon dioxide sequestration well to be governed by this Act; set forth the requirements and process to obtain a Class VI underground injection control permit; require permit fees to be put in the carbon dioxide sequestration facility administrative fund; set forth a process for commercially valuable minerals; designate the consent of owners of pore space for a administratively complete application; specify when the Energy and Environment Cabinet can begin technical review of the application; require financial responsibility sufficient to cover specific activities and cabinet review of financial responsibility annually; provide that the cabinet's determination is considered final; allow for the adjustment of financial responsibility based on adjustments in cost estimates; list the type of financial instruments which can be used as qualifying financial responsibility instruments; authorize the cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations for financial responsibility; identify reasons why the cabinet would deny an application for a permit; authorize the cabinet to restore applicant eligibility for permit under specific grounds and circumstances; require cabinet approval for a transfer of a permit and allow obligations and rights to pass to the new transferee; require periodic review of permits; prescribe the notice and comment requirements for a Class VI permit; delineate the cabinet's actions for applications that are complete and incomplete; prohibit the approval or transfer of a permit to an operator for conditions specified and allow eligibility after an applicant, operator, or control person takes certain remedial actions; establish requirements to maintain the integrity of carbon sequestration wells and notification of affected parties when activities occur on the well site; provide mechanism of redress for parties that are not in agreement over activities on the well site; specify the requirements for plugging and abandoning a Class VI well or monitoring well; authorize the secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet to enter into cooperative agreements; specify the requirements for a completion certificate issued by the Energy and Environment Cabinet after demonstrating compliance for 50 years or another time frame designated by the cabinet along with notice and public hearing; require ownership transferred to the Commonwealth and that both pore and surface owners are held harmless from liability; establish a carbon dioxide sequestration facility administrative fund and specify the moneys to be placed into the fund and the purposes and uses of the fund; establish an application fee to be paid to the carbon dioxide sequestration facility administrative fund and authorize the cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations for a fee schedule; establish a carbon dioxide sequestration facility trust fund and specify the purposes and use of moneys in the fund; require sequestration operators to pay a fee on each ton of carbon dioxide sequestered and have the fees remitted to the carbon dioxide sequestration facility trust fund; require the cabinet to prepare an annual report on the Class VI underground injection control permit and the carbon dioxide sequestration facility trust fund; state that the report is due December 31 of each year beginning with the receipt of the first application for an underground injection control permit; require the Energy and Environment Cabinet to certify the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered by each permittee and allow amounts sequestered to be used for a carbon dioxide credits, allowances, trading, emissions allocations, or offsets; prohibit the altering of legal rights or relationships of several mineral estates and pore space owners in common law; specify methods for nonconsenting owners; allow for the cabinet to make a determination on missing or nonconsenting pore space owners for a sequestration facility and notice for a pooling order; require the applicant to pay the cost of administrative hearing with a pooling order; establish notice for a pooling order and the compensation of owners; establish requirements for seismic survey of lands; require operator to deposit funds for unknown or missing pore space owners and allow funds to be moved to the carbon dioxide sequestration facility trust fund after 7 years; create a severability clause; establish violations and penalties; require notice and service for violations and establish courts with jurisdiction and a requirement for a stay of notice and administrative hearing; authorize the cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations to develop regulatory program for the administration of the underground injection control program; repeal KRS 353.800, 353.802, 353.804, 353.806, 353.808, 353.810, and 353.812, relating to geologic storage of carbon dioxide.

Amend KRS 69.010 to change the time period that a city has to provide for the sale of a new franchise before the expiration of the current utility franchise from 18 months to 6 months.

Amend KRS 224A.320 to require that eligible funding recipients for the Kentucky Water and Wastewater Assistance for Troubled or Economically Restrained Systems (WWATERS) Program meet 3 or more of the specified eligibility criteria instead of 1; exclude projects that expand the utility service of funding applicants from the definition of "eligible project"; require that a funding application include a detailed budget for all proposed project expenses; allow the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority board to evaluate and score funding applications for proposed projects in phases; require that approved eligible funding recipients adopt best management practices that would address the performance deficiencies that made the applicant eligible for funding; remove the funding evaluation criteria categories of current accounts payable turnover ratio and current days' sales in accounts receivable ratio; remove the requirement from the evaluation criteria that the applicant's receipt of a notice of violation of drinking water or other water quality standards occur in the past year; add to the funding eligibility criteria that the funding applicant can demonstrate that the amount of stormwater inflow and groundwater infiltration entering the funding applicant's system seriously impairs its effectiveness; add to the funding evaluation criteria that the funding applicant previously received funding through the program for a prior phase of the proposed project; add to the funding evaluation criteria that the funding applicant can demonstrate that the estimated costs are comparable to actual costs incurred for similar projects; add to the funding evaluation criteria that a licensed professional engineer signed an attestation of the application's veracity; require that in the evaluation of the funding applications, the board separately score and individually rank all eligible projects, with additional consideration given to projects that provide or restore safe water or wastewater utility service; EMERGENCY.

Amend KRS 278.264 to provide that the Public Service Commission maintains its authority to approve a utility's right to record and seek, prior to retirement authorization, the recovery of any electric generating unit's decommissioning, removal and salvage costs, and depreciation expenses through rates over the unit's estimated depreciable life.