Kentucky
Managed Sites
In Kentucky, a contaminated site can be closed as managed under 401 KAR 100:030. The Risk Assessment Section of the Superfund Branch, in the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP), gives long-term review and oversight to sites that have reduced exposure risk to people and the environment but where contamination may remain in place, and that therefore have property-use restrictions or other controls in place that require periodic monitoring. DEP says sites closed as managed are required to maintain use restrictions, and to send the Division of Waste Management regular certifications and reviews asserting that any institutional or engineering controls remain in place, function properly and remain protective.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists state registries of institutional and engineering controls among its standard sources. The general reading of a control listing is on the State/Tribal Institutional and Engineering Control Registries page. The pages read name no Kentucky registry of managed sites or of controls, so this handbook does not pair a Kentucky list with that record type. Managed Sites is the nearest Kentucky record.
Three details shape the search.
- Contamination may remain. DEP's Risk Assessment Section oversees sites where contamination may remain in place, with use restrictions or other controls that require periodic monitoring. Ask for the use restrictions and what they forbid, and compare them with the planned use of the property.
- Certifications and audits are part of the file. DEP requires the regular certifications and reviews above, and the Risk Assessment Section, with other sections of the branch, helps perform routine field audits of managed sites. Ask for the most recent certification and review, and any audit.
- Covenants are among the branch's submittals. The items the Superfund Branch accepts through its electronic submittals include an environmental covenant, an annual certification and a five-year review. Ask whether any is on file for the property.
Where the closures come from
The Superfund Branch page lists, as work of the Risk Assessment Section, "oversight of state and Petroleum Sections-managed closures". Sites under the branch's State Section are described on the State Superfund List page, and sites under its Petroleum Section on the Non-UST petroleum releases page. DEP's voluntary cleanup page also points to 401 KAR 100:030 for environmental cleanup standards; see Voluntary Environmental Remediation Program (VERP).
The Risk Assessment Section also reviews risk assessments for the Superfund Branch and assists the Hazardous Waste, Solid Waste and Underground Storage Tank branches, including on vapor intrusion. Its page links Five Year Review Appendices for Managed Sites, Kentucky Guidance for Risk Assessment and Kentucky Guidance for Ambient Background Assessment.
Where to look a site up
The pages read link no list of managed sites or environmental covenants. The Division of Waste Management takes general questions at waste@ky.gov or 502-564-6716.
Getting the file
The Cabinet takes open records requests by email to EEC.KORA@ky.gov, with as much detail as possible about the records sought. Name the use restrictions, any environmental covenant, and the latest certification and five-year review. Only residents of the Commonwealth, as the Open Records page defines them, may request to inspect public records.
Sources
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet pages, read October 12, 2026, no modified date shown: