When PFAS began showing up in Cadillac residents’ well water, industrial polluters were a prime suspect. But state investigators say residents may have unwittingly tainted their own water, through years of flushing common products into household septic systems. It’s a risk facing millions of Michiganders.
Michigan Environment Watch
Michigan Environment Watch examines how public policy, industry, and other factors interact with the state’s trove of natural resources.
Great Lakes News Collaborative
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, The Narwhal and Michigan Public work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. You can find all of the collaborative’s stories here.
Shockwave
The Great Lakes region is in the midst of a seismic energy shakeup, from skyrocketing data center demand and a nuclear energy boom, to expanding renewables and electrification. In 2026, the Great Lakes News Collaborative will explore how shifting supply and demand affect the region and its waters. Read the series here.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Cougar cubs spotted in Michigan for first time in a century
The weeks-old cubs were spotted without their mother in Ontonagon County. State officials are celebrating the discovery, while cautioning that they don’t know whether the cubs survived.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Amid legal challenges, Michigan considers reinstating year-round coyote hunting
The Michigan Natural Resources Commission could vote as soon as next month on the proposed hunting expansion, which comes just a year after commissioners restricted springtime hunting to avoid orphaning newborns that depend upon their parents for survival.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
What Trump’s pledge to repeal EV, climate regulations means to Michigan
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the flurry of directives the ‘most consequential day of deregulation in American history.’ Michigan environmentalists agree — but they don’t think it’s a good thing.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Great Lakes formed a lot earlier than previously thought, study concludes
A new study says the Great Lakes started forming as many as 300 million years ago.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Nation’s butterflies are disappearing at alarming rate, MSU researchers find
A study tallying 20 years worth of population figures for more than 500 butterfly species found that, on average, populations have declined by 22% since the turn of the millennium. Researchers called it ‘a wake-up call.’
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan lawmakers consider more subsidies, incentives for nuclear power
Bipartisan lawmakers want to incentivize nuclear energy research and development in Michigan, arguing investments would make the state ‘ground zero’ for the industry’s growth. But opponents fear high costs and environmental drawbacks.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan imposes new restrictions, testing requirements on UP copper mine
A new air quality permit for the Copperwood mine in Gogebic County requires additional testing for mine vents and emissions and places limits on emergency generators that run on natural gas and emit formaldehyde.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Great Lakes scientists among latest round of Trump cuts in Michigan
Scientists in an Ann Arbor research office were among hundreds fired nationally as the Trump administration slashes staff within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Trump cuts hit Forest Service in Michigan; critics fear ‘catastrophic’ loss
Northern Michigan is squeezed by downsizing. Trump officials blame Joe Biden, saying he hired thousands ‘with no plan in place to pay them.’