Request By:
Honorable Stephen Reeder
General Counsel
Transportation Cabinet
Frankfort, Kentucky 40622
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; John H. Gray, Assistant Attorney General
Thank you for your letter which asks if KRS 164.720 requires Kentucky Department of Transportation employees to obtain permits to conduct investigations on KYDOT property.
As you know KRS 164.720(1) provides that:
No person shall explore, excavate, appropriate or remove from land owned or leased by the Commonwealth or any state agency or any political subdivision or municipal corporation of the Commonwealth, any archaeological site or object of antiquity without first obtaining a permit from the department of anthropology upon the recommendation of the agency owning or having control of the land upon which the same is situated.
As we read KRS 164.720(1), a permit to explore or investigate is only required when the land involved contains an archaeological site or object of antiquity. Therefore, if the land involved is KYDOT property which does not contain a known archaeological site or object of antiquity, KYDOT employees need not obtain a permit to investigate the land. Conversely, if the land involved does contain a known archaeological site, then KRS 164.720(1) would require that KYDOT employees obtain permits. This would be so even if the land belonged to KYDOT and even though the KYDOT employees were they themselves professional archaeologists.
I hope that this has adequately answered your question. If not, please feel free to contact me.