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Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst, Washington, D.C.

Amy Mall

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

Recent Posts

Fracking roundtable: Congress must close loopholes for industry in protective laws

Posted May 22, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

New Federal Fracking Rule Rumored to be Imminent

Posted May 15, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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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

Large multinational banks now asking for data on fracking risks from companies

Posted May 8, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

Wyoming: ozone pollution from oil and gas operations is linked to more health clinic visits

Posted May 2, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

They're not willing to do it right: "So we don't want any oil and gas extraction in the county of Mora."

Posted April 30, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

Colorado and Wyoming: more spills; no fines

Posted April 16, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

Protecting NEPA environmental review is essential to protect clean water from the risks of fracking

Posted April 12, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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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

What makes an entire family all of a sudden need asthma medications?

Posted April 3, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

Obama Administration Energy Blueprint: paying companies to drill

Posted March 20, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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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

Colorado takes step in the right direction toward local government authority, but still on the wrong path

Posted March 8, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

More reasons for a strong BLM fracking rule; Three California drinking water sources at risk

Posted March 4, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

How well is the BLM enforcing the laws covering oil and gas wells on public and private land? Not well enough

Posted March 1, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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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

How radioactive is oil and gas waste? New study

Posted February 27, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

More than six percent of U.S. already leased for oil and gas: new NRDC analysis

Posted February 26, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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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

North Dakota: thanks to the oil and gas industry, unpaid medical bills are up 30 percent

Posted January 28, 2013 by Amy Mall in Health and the Environment

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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

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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.

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