Energy & Environment Cabinet

Energy & Environment Cabinet, a Kentucky state government agency operating under the Commonwealth of Kentucky, receives federal grants as a prime recipient across environmental, energy, forestry, and emergency management programs. The Cabinet is not an SBA-certified small business, federal contractor, or commercial vendor; it is a state agency delivering environmental and conservation services on behalf of Kentucky across 39 federal agencies. As a state entity, it operates exclusively as a grant recipient, not as a contract prime or subcontractor.

The Cabinet's grant portfolio spans environmental quality monitoring and enforcement, forest management and wildfire mitigation, abandoned mine reclamation, water quality protection, dam safety, and resilience planning. Recent representative work includes a $74.217 million Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Abandoned Mined Lands formula grant from the Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (CFDA 15.252, awarded October 2025) to plug, remediate, and reclaim orphaned wells and coal mining lands across Kentucky through 2030; a $22.245 million EPA Region 4 formula grant (awarded October 2023) to address emerging contaminants like PFAS in small and disadvantaged water communities; a $3.750 million USDA Forest Service Cooperative Forestry Assistance grant (CFDA 10.664, awarded September 2023) for landscape restoration, invasive species mitigation, and forest stewardship on non-federal lands; and a $2.0 million EPA Brownfields Cooperative Agreement (CFDA 66.818, awarded July 2025) to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments and cleanup planning across central, eastern, and western Kentucky.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to environmental and natural resource agencies. EPA programs dominate by award volume: EPA and EPA Region 4 together represent 207 of 570 total awards (36% of volume). The Department of Agriculture Forest Service R8-Southern Region (74 awards) and the Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (58 awards) account for an additional 18% of recent activity. The Cabinet also receives grants from FEMA (National Flood Insurance Program technical assistance and dam safety), the Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Energy (energy efficiency and residential solar programs), and the National Resources Conservation Service for conservation planning.

The Cabinet's grant portfolio is dominated by formula grants and cooperative agreements rather than competitive project grants. Activity has remained stable over the past five years (ranging from 30 to 41 awards annually). Forty-two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing potential recompete and renewal opportunity. The Cabinet frequently issues subawards to sub-recipients including the University of Kentucky, Kentucky Division of Conservation, Kentucky Rural Water Association, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves, and Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District to execute specific grant-funded work streams.

Primary capability areas include air and water quality monitoring and reporting (wetlands surveys, PM2.5 and PFAS sampling, TMDL development), forestry management and invasive species control (hemlock woolly adelgid treatment, prescribed fire coordination, habitat restoration), abandoned mine reclamation and coal site remediation, floodplain mapping and flood hazard assessment, dam safety administration, and technical assistance to small water systems and disadvantaged communities. Work is performed across Kentucky, with administrative oversight from the Cabinet's Frankfort headquarters. The Cabinet operates as a pass-through recipient of federal funding, issuing subawards and directing work through state divisions rather than direct staff execution.