As a kid I played outside in the woods or at the beach most days, followed trails, climbed cliffs and went fishing. Before NRDC I worked in the private sector as well as in the offices of elected officials in county, state and federal government. In 2001 I joined NRDC’s Land and Wildlife Program. Now I work to protect the environment. NRDC is dedicated to protecting our nation’s wildest places and most valuable wildlife habitat from irresponsible industrial development. I've worked to protect old growth forests in Alaska and other western states. Now my work is focused on protecting sensitive lands in the Rocky Mountain region from harmful oil and gas operations, and on advancing public policies to require more environmental protections for oil and gas operations
Posted May 22, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
Tomorrow, I’m headed to the U.S. Senate for a forum on the environmental impacts of shale gas development before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I’ll be joined by members of the oil and gas industry, as well as representatives...continued→
Posted May 15, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
It’s rumored that the BLM is about to release the next draft of its proposal for fracking guidelines for public lands. We’ve been blogging about all the significant failures with the first draft, and why a strong rule is so...continued→
Posted May 8, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
Rich Liroff reports in his blog on GreenBiz.com that European banks want more hard data on risks from frackers. According to Rich, some of the world's largest banks, as part of the Climate Principles for the Finance Sector, wish to see quantitative...continued→
Posted May 2, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
I've blogged before about how many oil and gas activities lead to increased ambient ozone. Ozone causes very dangerous health effects. Some of the most rural areas in Wyoming (and in Utah) have experienced dangerously high ozone levels. Because residents of Sublette...continued→
Posted April 30, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
Mora County, New Mexico is the first county in the country to ban drilling and fracking. They did it to protect their groundwater. The new county ordinance also established a local Bill of Rights that confirms the county's right to clean...continued→
Posted April 16, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
Since early March, citizens across Colorado have been hearing about groundwater contamination near the town of Parachute in western Colorado. High levels of benzene--a known carcinogen--have been found in groundwater about 1,400 feet downstream of the presumed source of a leak. A monitoring...continued→
Posted April 12, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
The need to protect some of California’s rich agricultural land provides the latest example of how important NEPA is in safeguarding our nation’s natural resources. Last week a federal court ruled that fracking proposals there need to look at the air and...continued→
Posted April 3, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
I just read this article about the Cerny family from Karnes County in south Texas. Mike, the father, reports that he gets three or four migraines a day, and that he never had migraines before in his life. He and his...continued→
Posted March 20, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Last week the Obama Administration issued a new Energy Blueprint. There are some excellent elements in the White House proposal, including doubling renewable electricity generation by 2020, cutting energy waste, and supporting energy efficiency. But there are also dirty and depressing energy proposals...continued→
Posted March 8, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
In past blogs, I as well as colleagues at NRDC have expressed our strong support for the authority of local governments to protect their residents from the risks of fracking. I also blogged about my extreme disappointment that the State...continued→
Posted March 4, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
As I’ve mentioned, we expect the BLM to soon issue a new draft rule for fracking that takes place under federal oil and gas leases. A reporter published a leaked copy of the new draft rule, and my colleagues Briana...continued→
Posted March 1, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In Fiscal Year 2011, the BLM conducted an Internal Control Review (ICR) of the onshore oil and gas Inspection and Enforcement (I&E) program. The ICR reviewed ten field offices with major oil and gas responsibilities in California, New Mexico, Oklahoma,...continued→
Posted February 27, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
A new paper published in "NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy," discusses an analysis of radioactive waste sludge in two pit sites related to drilling and fracking of Barnett Shale wells. Both sites are in the midst of agricultural land....continued→
Posted February 26, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
According to a new NRDC analysis, at the end of 2011, seventy of the largest oil and gas companies operating in the United States held leases covering at least 141 million net acres of American land—an area greater than California and...continued→
Posted January 28, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment
I recently blogged about a hospital in Pennsylvania that has its first budget loss in five years, due to workers in the oil and gas industry who do not have health insurance. I also blogged about a town in Montana that...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.
