Steingraber is hardly a newcomer to the environmental scene: people have been comparing the former biology professor to Rachel Carson since 1997, when she published . The book examines how illness is linked to pollution, and it grew out of Steingraber’s experiences battling a form of bladder cancer that may have been caused by industrial runoff.
But over the past three years, Steingraber, 54, has emerged as one of the country’s top experts on the hot-button issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. And here’s the really surprising thing: at a time when everyone from big green groups like the to President Obama is touting America’s newfound natural-gas glut as a bridge to energy independence, Steingraber has prevailed in her efforts to keep the process out of her home state.
In 2011, she received a $100,000 Heinz Award for her human-rights approach to the environmental crisis. At the time, it appeared that New York governor Andrew Cuomo was moments away from lifting a moratorium on fracking, so Steingraber used her prize money to help start the nonprofit New Yorkers Against Fracking, a coalition that includes thousands of members, from farmers to mothers to actor Mark Ruffalo. In 2012, she starred in the antifracking film , which raised pressure on the state government. In March, she was jailed for blocking the entrance to a gas compressor station. A month later she published , about how environmental issues like gas development will affect future generations. Meanwhile, the push to frack New York remains stalled. Cuomo has yet to lift the moratorium, and companies like Chesapeake Energy have started pulling out of the state.
There may be bigger names in the fracking debate—Josh Fox and Ruffalo come to mind—but none of them are as uncompromising or informed. “The data is showing us that we’re killing our planet and killing our children,” she says. “And scientists have a moral position to make sure that the data makes a difference.”