We mobilized 500 elected officials from 51 counties, representing half of Californians, to support phasing out oil and gas production statewide, helping win 3,200-foot public health setbacks on oil and gas drilling, declaring an end to oil production, fracking ban, and joining the intergovernmental Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA). Our Leadership Council members led Culver City and Los Angeles to pass historic legislation to phase out fossil fuel production, serving as a model for the state.

California

Our policy team at the Certificate in Public Leadership created first-in-the-nation legislation to provide Tier 1 mental health resources, which includes emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and wellbeing, in the wake of the devastating Maui fires for first responders and the education system.

Hawaii Climate Resilience and Mental Health

We released a documentary exposing Saudi Arabia buying US water rights and educated members of Congress on the Ways and Means, Senate Intelligence, Armed Services, and Natural Resources committees. It then gained wider media attention and the governor decided not to renew the leases.

Documentary

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EOPA mobilized more than 1000 elected officials from 46 states to support President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to make robust investments in renewable energy. In June 2022, President Biden authorized the use of the DPA to manufacture solar panels, insulation, heat pumps, clean energy equipment, and power grid infrastructure.

Defense Production Act

EOPA organized 80 military veteran state lawmakers from 50 states to support the U.S. Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with a D.C. fly-in, full-page Washington Post spread, and national and local media coverage. Less than two weeks after our D.C. visit, Congress announced restored LWCF funding that we sought to support over 40,000 parks and monuments. Following our op-ed series and organizing supporting LWCF, Trump signed into law LWCF funding in perpetuity in 2019.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

EOPA won Plug in America’s national Drive Electric Award for our EV tour through the Northeast at state and local Capitols with Lucid, Chevy, Ford, Mercedes, Tesla, Rivon, and EV charging companies.

Electric Vehicles

We successfully mobilized more than 1,000 elected officials from all 62 counties to win a statewide ban fracking, pass New York State’s nation-leading Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), Climate Superfund, electrification policies, and commitments to divest the state’s $225 billion pension fund from fossil fuels. Our work in New York has garnered hundreds of national and international news stories, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Reuters, and BBC.

New York

COP Delegations –  During COP26 and COP27, we organized a delegation of a dozen elected officials from coast to coast and at national, state, and local levels to engage the media and delegates in Glasgow. Our delegation was the largest delegation of state-level lawmakers at COP26. Delegation members engaged in numerous events culminating in our international press conference that highlighted the Build Back Better Agenda, which became the Inflation Reduction Act. We received coverage in USA Today, state-based media, syndicated radio, and social media linking national security and environmental justice. We placed op-eds in papers across the nation.

COP Delegations