Bill gutting KY environmental regs unlikely to move this year — but it’s not dead
Controversial new legislation that would prohibit Kentucky regulators from setting pollution standards that exceed federal minimums has stalled.
Senate Bill 178 has returned to the Natural Resources and Energy Committee after clearing the panel by a strict party-line vote late last month. The bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester, told the Herald-Leader his bill “requires some more discussion” and he is considering holding it until the next legislative session.
“It’s very important to me that we get this right, and we don’t do it incorrectly — we don’t create unintended consequences,” Elkins said. “I’m very happy to slow this bill down.”
The proposal, backed by chemical manufacturers, threatened to neuter Kentucky’s environmental administrative power at the same time federal agencies are mounting a deregulatory push under President Donald Trump.
Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet and Cabinet for Health and Family Services would be prohibited from issuing rules “more stringent or extensive” than federal policy under the proposal. When agencies could act, they would be held to ambiguous scientific and technologically feasible standards or be required to show direct causal links between pollutants and human harm which environmental experts said are virtually unattainable.
Elkins said he and his Republican allies want to offer the bill’s critics more narrow definitions for phrases like “best available science,” which agencies would be required cite. That could serve to calm nerves his bill was an administrative power grab or gift to heavy industries, Elkins said.
“I do want to protect health and human safety, and I do want to protect the environment,” he said.
Yet, critics fear tighter state-level regulatory controls, nearly identical to new laws already on the books in Alabama and Tennessee, are tantamount to writing a blank check for the commonwealth’s top polluting industries.
“To tie yourself to federal standards is not a solution, because those federal standards are in flux right now,” said Lane Boldman, executive director of the Kentucky Conservation Committee. “We need solutions that work for Kentucky by protecting Kentuckians. I hope Sen. Elkins will rethink the entire premise of this bill.”
Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Goodman sent Elkins a letter late last month expressing concerns with the bill and saying the cabinet cannot support it. The prohibition on regulations more stringent than federal law is duplicative, she said, while phrases like “best available science” and “weight of scientific evidence” are subjective.
They open the door for disagreements over scientific evidence to halt the rulemaking process, she said.
“Passing laws that protect the environment and prevent harm to the citizens that live in it is a cornerstone of sound environmental policy,” Goodman wrote.
Effort linked to state-level PFAS regulations
Since introducing the bill in February, Elkins has insisted he wants to protect chemical manufacturers from exaggerated claims about emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) dubbed “forever chemicals.”
State-level regulations on PFAS chemicals in consumer products surged last year as more than a dozen states enacted sanctions on industries that produce the cancer-linked substances containing strong organic bonds that pose generational environmental risks.
Bills linking state regulation to federal standards in solidly GOP-controlled states have emerged ever since, propped up by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and disseminated widely by conservative nonprofits that draft model legislation targeted at right-leaning state lawmakers.
PFAS chemicals have extremely important industrial applications that can’t be ignored, Elkins told the Herald-Leader. It’s important regulators balance those interests with equally important environmental considerations and don’t get carried away by hype surrounding them, he added.
A 2024 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule toughened reporting requirements for public drinking water systems, but federal regulators under the Trump administration have since signaled interest in rolling those back for specific substances and extending deadlines that would require water companies to implement controls.
If that happens, process industries in states that have enacted legislation like S.B. 178 would get a pass while other states could put more limits on PFAS.
At least 10 public water systems serving Kentucky customers detected PFAS chemicals exceeding legally enforceable maximums, according to January EPA data reviewed by the Herald-Leader from samples collected between 2023 and 2025. Those levels are highly variable but are almost always linked in some way to manmade chemicals that have been known to cause cancer, liver damage and developmental effects in children and suppress immune systems.
“These chemicals are literally designed to not break down in the environment, and that’s problematic regardless of the application,” Boldman said. “They must be managed, either by the federal or state governments.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
