Bridge Michigan reporters honored by national environmental journalism group

• Bridge Michigan reporters Paula Gardner and  Kelly House received recognition from the Society of Environmental Journalists
• The international group awarded the pair’s project on abandoned auto factories in Michigan
• The work comes as electric vehicle plants are under construction in Michigan

The Society of Environmental Journalists this week recognized Bridge Michigan reporters Paula Gardner and Kelly House for a 2023 project examining the environmental impacts of abandoned auto factories in Michigan.

The project, Michigan’s Industrial Legacy, received an honorable mention for Outstanding Explanatory Reporting among small markets. More than 500 projects nationwide competed in the 23rd annual contest.

Judges called the series “a great example of connecting past pollution with the future,” noting that they “have had impact, prompting legislation to reform economic development and environmental cleanup laws."

Read the project:

• As automakers win incentives for EV plants, Michigan pays for polluted past
• 'They destroyed our little town.' What Michigan’s auto industry left behind
• Small supplier, big mess: Jackson pays the price of auto industry pollution
• Did auto industry pollute your Michigan town? Find out with interactive map
• Michigan Democrats unveil push for tougher polluter pay laws

Gardner and House spent months traveling across the state, examining thousands of documents and reporting how Michigan’s weak cleanup laws allowed companies to abandon factors and stick taxpayers with the tab.

Both Gardner and House said the project began after Michigan invested hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives for electric vehicle plants with “few environmental strings attached.”

“Nobody seemed to be asking what those companies owe to the older factory towns that have been left behind,” House said.

Gardner said the project “was both an environmental and a business story, and we were grateful that our editors recognized that telling it in a comprehensive way would be important for the state.”

The reporters received a $5,000 grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism for the project. After its publication, lawmakers proposed reforms to Michigan’s contamination cleanup laws and corporate incentives programs.

"We're happy that national judges confirmed what Michigan readers have long known: Paula and Kelly are the best,” said Joel Kurth, executive editor of impact for Bridge Michigan.  “Their work detailing how small towns and taxpayers are stuck with the tab for abandoned factories helped set the agenda in Michigan and may prevent history from repeating itself.”