Committee advances bill to narrow state water permitting definition; environmental groups warn of groundwater and headwater losses

Senators voted to report Senate Bill 89 favorably out of the Natural Resources Committee after testimony from industry representatives and environmental advocates who described sharply different impacts of the proposed change to how Kentucky defines and regulates waters of the Commonwealth.

Sen. Scott Maiden, sponsor, told the committee the bill would align Kentucky’s definition of waters of the Commonwealth with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 guidance on the “waters of the United States” and would codify an existing definition and bond-calculation method for “long-term treatment” at mine sites. Maiden said the measure protects coal industry permits from what he characterized as overbroad state regulation by the Energy and Environment Cabinet and preserves jobs and local economies.

Coal-industry witnesses,…