Microsoft Office Outlook - Memo Style - Montana Board of Oil and Gas

Woman who lived near Rifle gas fields dies
By John Colson
Post Independent Staff
Posted: 11/17/2010 10:56:23 AM MST
Updated: 11/17/2010 10:58:55 AM MST
Elizabeth Chris Mobaldi at her home in Grand Junction a couple of months ago.
(submitted photo | via Post Independent)
A woman who grew gravely ill after living near gas drilling activities in the Rifle area has
died in Grand Junction, to where she and her husband moved to get away from the rigs.
Elizabeth "Chris" Mobaldi, 63, died on Nov. 14, at 4:40 a.m., after a lengthy battle with a
rare and persistent tumor of the pituitary gland, according to her husband, Steve.
Industry representatives have long argued that there is no conclusive evidence that
proximity to gas wells has adverse effects on the environment or on human health.
According to testimony by Mobaldi before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform in Washington, D.C., the couple suffered symptoms such as
headaches, burning eyes and skin, which they believed were related to the drilling rigs as
close as 300 feet from their home.
A physician who treated Chris Mobaldi, Dr. Kendall Gerdes of Colorado Springs, said,
"When I first met her ... I thought it must be some kind of Eastern European thing."
Asked if he agrees with Steve Mobaldi's assertion that the symptoms are in some way
related to exposure to gas drilling activities, Gerdes said simply, "I do."