Stating the case:
Forging solutions in the states

EDF and EDF Action have long deployed teams on the ground in a number of states, often pursuing targeted goals in collaboration with partners deeply vested in their communities. Our State Affairs group is building on this experience, deepening our engagement in over a dozen key states across the country.

This presence at the state level, when added to our expertise and relationships at the federal level, allows us to work efficiently and drive toward the best outcomes.

Our state staff regularly draw on the strong policy expertise of national colleagues steeped in science, law, technology and public policy, practice areas in which EDF has long been a leader. Our relationships at the state level allow us to directly apply those skillsets to the climate-related challenges we all face. It’s a people-centered model that allows the staff at EDF to build on a tradition of meeting the moment in place.

The work ahead is considerable: clean energy standards, water quantity and access, climate action plans, methane emissions, leaky abandoned wells, electric vehicles and charging deployments, coastal resilience and – critically – the infusion of fairness for workers and communities in all these areas.

We’re now knee-deep in 21st century climate innovation, everything from zero-emission vehicles and the infrastructure needed to power them to nascent hydrogen hubs and essential grid upgrades to power the future. Unleashing the full potential of the economic and technological transition to clean energy.

Here’s some of what we’ve already done

With an estimated two million orphaned and abandoned wells in the U.S. posing significant risks to human health by leaking methane and volatile organic compounds including the carcinogen benzene into our air and contaminating groundwater, we are working on the ground in the states where the issue is most acute including Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas.

Our goal is to support the use of funding from the administration’s clean energy plan to help address this massive problem – plugging wells where there is no solvent owner of record, or no owner can be identified. We are also supporting the Bayou State’s new rule to clamp down on the indefinite classification of inactive wells as having “future utility” – and continuing to leak along the way – when most of these wells will never produce a significant amount of oil and gas.

EDF is championing a similar federal-to-state partnership to clean up harmful diesel emissions from school buses via the electrification of school bus fleets in states such as North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. These clean school buses will leave black diesel fumes in the rear-view mirror and allow children and communities to breathe cleaner air. Our affiliated partner Moms Clean Air Force is on the ground across the country, highlighting clean bus manufacturing and driving home the need for school districts to take advantage of this funding opportunity.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are being installed nationwide thanks to an investment of $7.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and states are doubling down to keep up with EV sales now that the vehicles are expected to reach price parity with gas-powered vehicles soon. We are engaged in states including Texas, where we passed legislation forming an inter-agency task force to assess state-wide charging infrastructure needs and support the current plan to build charging stations every 50-70 miles along key Texas highways. Similarly in New Jersey, new laws will ensure that charging stations are located no more than 25 miles apart on major roads.

EDF’s expertise and deep bench in policy, law, science and economics allows us to help define the rules at the federal level and implement them at the state level. States are the place to develop and grow policy innovation with the people most impacted — changing lives as we chart a course for cleaner, safer and healthier communities.