Kentucky
Non-UST petroleum releases
In Kentucky, petroleum releases that are not from a regulated underground storage tank (UST) are overseen by the Petroleum Section of the Superfund Branch, in the Division of Waste Management of the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP). The section is responsible for regulatory oversight of non-UST petroleum releases: it guides and checks the investigations, remediation and management that responsible parties carry out, and it manages the investigation, remediation or management itself, as state lead, at sites without viable responsible parties.
In a Phase I ESA
This record is not paired here with a record type that ASTM E1527-21 names. It sits beside the state leaking storage tank records, which in Kentucky are the underground storage tank releases and corrective action cases of the UST Branch. The general reading of a leaking tank listing is on the LUST page.
Three Kentucky details shape the search.
- The tank decides the branch. The Superfund Branch regulates releases from non-regulated tanks but does not regulate the tanks themselves. The Division posts a List of UST Exempt Tanks. For a release from a tank on that list, or from anything other than a regulated UST, ask the Superfund Branch as well as the UST Branch.
- The Fire Marshal permits the tanks. The section's page says the Office of the State Fire Marshal is responsible for plan review and permitting for the installation of underground and aboveground storage tanks. This handbook does not read the Fire Marshal's pages.
- A closure has its own form. The section publishes a Petroleum Closure Report Form, DEP 7097C, with a guidance document, and the Superfund Branch accepts Petroleum Closure Reports through its electronic submittals. The section also links its 2022 TPH Soil Screening Levels. For a closed release, ask for the closure report.
How the work runs
Parties found responsible under the Kentucky Superfund statutes are required to investigate the extent of the contamination and to remediate or manage it according to regulatory guidance. Sites that need action and are not associated with a financially viable responsible party are eligible to become state-lead sites, where project managers collect samples and develop a strategy to remediate or manage the contaminants. The Superfund Branch page lists, as work of its Risk Assessment Section, "oversight of state and Petroleum Sections-managed closures". Closure as managed, with use restrictions kept in place, is described on the Managed Sites page.
The Superfund Branch's Regulations page lists, under Petroleum Superfund Regulations and Statutes, KRS 224.1-405 and 401 KAR 100:030 among others. The section also processes Brownfield Redevelopment and Reuse Program (415 Program) applications.
Where to look a site up
The pages read link no list of non-UST petroleum release sites, and they do not say whether these sites appear on the State Superfund List. The section's page gives only named staff contacts. 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. 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: