A Force for Nature

Fracking incidents – fires, spills, explosions, and more due to fracking on our public lands

Public Lands Oil and Gas Industry Incidents

Did you know that from 2010 to 2017, there was nearly one incident daily on our public lands due to oil and gas production? “Incidents” range from major fires to toxic fluid spills and beyond. We, the American public, own these lands, but the oil and gas industry has turned them into a battleground. This map shows the location of oil and gas production incidents on our public lands reported to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management since January 1, 2010.

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Contact

[email protected]

Kate Merlin

Climate & Energy Program Colorado Attorney

Katherine Lynn Toan Merlin is WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Colorado Attorney. She earned her J.D. from Vermont Law School in 2008, and an LLM in Natural Resources Law from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2013. Prior to joining Guardians she worked as a solo attorney in public interest environmental litigation and administrative law to protect Colorado’s people and places from the numerous harms imposed by the oil and gas industry. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Kate began her career to protect the environment after a three-month trek through the southwest with the National Outdoor Leadership School. She earned a B.S. in environmental science from Northern Arizona University before beginning her career in law.

Contact

[email protected]
(719) 439-5895

Matt Nykiel

Climate & Energy Program Attorney

Matt is a Climate & Energy program attorney for WildEarth Guardians. Matt’s work focuses on protecting New Mexico and communities across the West from the impacts of oil and gas extraction and use. He became concerned about fossil fuels after witnessing the effects of climate change as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. Seeking opportunities to protect public lands and the environment generally, Matt went to law school at the University of Colorado. After graduating, he clerked for a state district court judge in Colorado and then relocated an hour south of the Canadian Border, in Idaho, to work on energy and water quality issues with the Idaho Conservation League. Matt, his partner, Ruth, and their pup, Frisbee, love being back in Southwest and spending time in the mountains and on the water.

Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and conservationist. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University in 2017, her dissertation focusing on Mormon settlement and public land conflicts. She has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. After college in Colorado, caretaking for a bed and breakfast in Mosier, Oregon, and serving breakfasts at a cafe in Kanab, Utah, Betsy settled in Bozeman, Montana, where she now lives with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. She is the author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God, and Public Lands in the West.

Contact

[email protected]
406-396-0321

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Matthew Koehler joined WildEarth Guardians as the Communications Manager in 2020, bringing 25 years of experience working to protect and defend public lands, wildlife, wilderness, and democracy. He grew up in the rural Wisconsin Village of Elkhart Lake, surrounded by the Kettle Moraine State Forest, where his family goes back six generations. His love for nature came from his parents, a housepainter and a nurse, and time the family spent hiking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and camping on public lands. He moved to Missoula, Montana in 1995 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a history degree and later obtained a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Montana, for history and English. Voted best activist by the Missoula Independent in 2007 and awarded the Fund for Wild Nature’s “grassroots activist of the year” in 2010, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time in nature.

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Hi, I’m Julian Kanter. I am a rising 2L at Willamette University College of Law. I decided to attend law school to fight against social injustice and make a positive impact on the environment. Learning about industrial agriculture was the catalyst for my interest in environmental law. I am thrilled to be focusing on wildlife and giving a voice to the plants and animals of our natural world.

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley is a rising third-year law student at the University of Colorado Law School, pursuing certificates in both Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law and American Indian Law. Originally from Northern California, Erin misses the Pacific Ocean, but loves exploring Colorado’s beautiful outdoors, spending her free time hiking, camping, and learning about the native wildlife. Erin is excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians this summer and protecting wild rivers!

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Maggie Flaherty, originally from a small town in Northern California, is a rising senior at Dartmouth College. She is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Spanish. At Dartmouth, she spends most of her time engaging in sexual violence prevention efforts as well as playing water polo. In her free time, she likes to hike and swim outdoors. Maggie is very excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians’ Wildlife and Wild Places Programs.

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Grace Erispaha is a rising senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota pursuing an undergraduate degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. She is originally from Gilbert, Arizona and gets to experience the best of both worlds: brutal winters and scorching summers. Grace is excited to learn more about legal processes and hopes to apply to law school by her graduation.

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

My life totally changed on December 4th, 2017 when the president came to Salt Lake City to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Before that day, I had been a career hospitality worker—interested in wilderness to be sure—but living a selfish existence pursuing careerism and creature comforts. That selfishness went out the window when the president cruelly reduced two sacred and protected places that meant so much to so many. Since then I’ve completed two years of law school and get to work this summer with the most uncompromising organization in Earth advocacy—WildEarth Guardians.

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny is a rising third-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School. She came to Portland, Oregon to pursue a career in environmental litigation and is currently working towards her Certificate in Environmental & Natural Resource Law. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has been enjoying everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer, such as Mount Hood, the Pacific Ocean, and the overabundance of ferns and evergreens. Victoria is thrilled to be working with the WildEarth Guardians’ attorneys this summer on Endangered Species Act and Public Lands issues.

Fracking incidents – fires, spills, explosions, and more due to fracking on our public lands

Public Lands Oil and Gas Industry Incidents

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Contact

Kate Merlin

Climate & Energy Program Colorado Attorney

Contact

Matt Nykiel

Climate & Energy Program Attorney

Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Contact

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern