I grew up in Seattle, Washington, then went to law school in New York City and lived there for 16 years before coming to the Midwest. I like to think that Seattle gave me a love of our natural environment, and New York gave me the legal street smarts to fight for it. While in New York, I was a clinical professor at the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, helping law students to gain practical experience in environmental litigation. After coming to Chicago in 2002, I was Environmental Counsel to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, developing environmental initiatives and serving as her point person on multistate environmental litigation. I have been with NRDC since 2007, and since coming here have worked on a wide variety of issues of concern in the Great Lakes region, both as a litigator and a policy advocate. In particular, I work against dirty fuels projects such as Canadian tar sands development and liquid coal, and in support of strong Clean Water Act regulations and permits.
Posted April 17, 2012 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution
You would be reasonable in assuming that the core function of a government agency called the Pollution Control Board should be, well, controlling pollution. Your assumption would be doubly reasonable since that is pretty much what the Illinois Pollution Control...continued→
Posted March 21, 2012 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, U.S. Law and Policy
The settlement deal that the U.S. EPA has cut with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District over the District’s Chicago River sewage dumps is not the worst deal in the world. For instance, that time the Red Sox owner traded Babe...continued→
Posted March 13, 2012 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution
The popular legend is that Chicago’s jazz tradition arose from a migration of musicians from New Orleans up the Mississippi River in the 19th century. It seems Chicago is now returning scat to New Orleans back down the Mississippi, but...continued→
Posted May 13, 2011 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
In a moment of nostalgia for our outgoing mayor, who threw some of the most colorful hissy fits in all of Chicagoland, I recalled one of them yesterday after USEPA announced its order that Illinois make the Chicago River clean...continued→
Posted May 12, 2011 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Last year, I pointed out that USEPA had finally stepped in as the adult in the room, moving to exercise federal authority in the longstanding Chicago River disinfection controversy. Today, the adult has finally had it. In a forceful letter...continued→
Posted May 3, 2011 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution
NRDC and its coalition partners filed a lawsuit today demanding that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District stop polluting the Chicago River and start protecting it. As described in our 60-day notice letter filed in March (and in my previous post),...continued→
Posted March 8, 2011 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Have you heard the classic definition of “chutzpah,” a Yiddish word meaning audacity and gall? According to Leo Rosten, author of The Joys of Yiddish, the word can best be understood as “that quality enshrined in a man who, having...continued→
Posted January 24, 2011 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Solving Global Warming
Remember the bridge to nowhere? The earmark-funded bridge in Alaska that was to provide a staggeringly costly way for people to get where they didn’t need to go? Well, the Illinois General Assembly has one-upped it. Earlier this month, it...continued→
Posted November 24, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, a self-proclaimed Bible-based advocacy organization, has a solution to this year’s unusual fatal grizzly bear attacks season: “shoot these man-eaters on sight.” This mass slaughter of bears, according to Mr. Fisher, is...continued→
Posted November 23, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
The Ozark hellbenders are in trouble. You would think that a species of gigantic salamander with a name like a motorcycle gang could handle itself in a bar fight against the forces of extinction, but sadly not. Their numbers have...continued→
Posted November 12, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Solving Global Warming
I recently learned about a rather interesting statement made back in 2009 by Representative John Shimkus of Ilinois about the Bible and climate change. The reason I just heard about it this week is that Representative Shimkus is now, following the...continued→
Posted October 22, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
In the Bible-studying Protestant circles I travel in when I am not fighting court battles for NRDC, we occasionally engage in lame Bible-geek humor about the Book of 2 Hesitations. For those of you whose background does not include vacation Bible...continued→
Posted October 15, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
I was reading recently about toilets. More specifically, about how Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and co-Chair of their foundation, has been pushing hard to provide toilets to impoverished people in various regions of Africa and India. Having observed...continued→
Posted September 15, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s study of the human health impacts of Chicago River recreation, more than three years in the making, is finally out. According to the District, the verdict is in: come on in, the water’s fine. Or...continued→
Posted August 26, 2010 by Ann Alexander in Curbing Pollution, Moving Beyond Oil
As an environmental lawyer, I love the happy ending part of environmental lawyer movies. The part where the dedicated environmental advocates lead the victims of a big polluter in a groundswell of public outrage that forces the polluter to back...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
