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Briana Mordick, Oil & Gas Science Fellow, Washington, D.C.

Briana Mordick
From elementary school science fairs, to dreams of being an astronaut, to wandering the world looking at rocks, I have loved science for as long as I can remember. Nothing fascinates me more than learning how the world works. I stumbled onto geology as a freshman in college and was instantly hooked. After getting my Masters, I went to work for the oil and gas industry as a petroleum geologist for almost six years. When the opportunity arose to combine my passion for science with my passion for the environment, I jumped. As a Science Fellow for NRDC, I focus on solutions to the environmental impacts of oil and gas extraction, the potential for carbon capture and geologic sequestration to help curb global warming, and work to bridge the gaps between science and policy.

Recent Posts

A Tale of Two Agencies: How the BLM and EPA Will (and Won't) Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing

Posted May 10, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and WIld Places

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Despite being similar processes and posing similar risks to the environment, the way hydraulic fracturing is regulated is very different from the way the underground injection of other fluids is regulated.  This difference was made even more apparent when, on...continued

Latest News on Earthquakes Caused by Oil and Gas Production Activities

Posted April 18, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment

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Researchers at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recently published an abstract that links an increase in earthquakes across the middle of the US to oil and natural gas production activities.  The researchers found that the number of earthquakes with...continued

Federal Regulation of Fracking Needed to Prevent Conflicts with CO2 Sequestration

Posted April 6, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming

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Geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important tool for curbing the human-induced climate change caused by our addiction to burning fossil fuels. But a new paper from researchers at Princeton suggests that the very process of getting those...continued

How the BLM can modernize rules for hydraulic fracturing

Posted March 7, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and WIld Places

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The technology used to get oil and gas out of the ground has evolved extremely rapidly but regulation has unfortunately not kept pace. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has recognized this, stating that the Bureau of Land Management’s “current regulations specific to...continued

Investigations find no evidence of leaks at Weyburn

Posted January 12, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming

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Two separate investigations have found no evidence to suggest that CO2 is leaking from the Weyburn-Midale CO2-EOR field in Saskatchewan, Canada. In January of last year the Kerr family, who owns property near the Weyburn field, feared that their groundwater...continued

More earthquakes, this time from oil & gas waste disposal

Posted January 3, 2012 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment

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Injection of oil and gas waste water into a disposal well is suspected as the cause for a swarm of earthquakes around Youngstown, Ohio. A magnitude 4.0 earthquake on New Year’s Eve was the biggest of 11 earthquakes that occurred...continued

Groundwater in Pavillion, WY contaminated by hydraulic fracturing through multiple subsurface pathways

Posted December 9, 2011 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft report of its investigation of groundwater contamination near Pavillion, WY.  It appears likely that groundwater in Pavillion was contaminated by the hydraulic fracturing process itself, rather than by surface spills or leaks...continued

Earthquakes Caused by Fracking: What Do We Know and Can They Be Prevented?

Posted November 3, 2011 by Briana Mordick in Health and the Environment

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In a report commissioned by United Kingdom-based Cuadrilla Resources, researchers concluded that a series of earthquakes in Lancashire, UK were likely caused by hydraulic fracturing. Two relatively large earthquakes, with magnitudes 2.3 and 1.5, and 48 smaller events occurred in...continued

Enhanced oil recovery is a step toward large-scale carbon capture and sequestration -- if done right.

Posted October 28, 2011 by Briana Mordick in Solving Global Warming

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Officials from the Department of Energy have affirmed that, despite the failure of Congress to pass climate legislation, DOE is still committed to advancing Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), which many experts believe will be a critical technology for reducing...continued

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