A look back at our most impactful Michigan environmental coverage of 2019
Poisoned Michigan: How weak laws and ignored history enabled PFAS crisis
Lawmakers said ‘never again’ after an agricultural mishap sparked one of the worst poisonings in Michigan history in 1973. But serious reform never came and some mistakes of that crisis are being repeated with the PFAS threat befouling state waterways.
Marquette girds for climate change in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Upper Peninsula cities are taking action in response to climate change in the absence of federal safeguards. Experts expect Marquette and its neighbors to face a storm of challenges from intensifying rains that could increase risks of floods and bacteria-laden runoff, to an influx of disease-carrying pests and more dramatic shifts in Lake Superior’s water levels.
How a typo revived a Michigan fish feud over hungry Yoopers and science
Limits on brook trout spark a curious fish tale that’s lasted years, cost taxpayers about $200,000 in research and prompted questions about whether science or special interests drives state natural resources policy.
Michigan DNR said it killed wolves to protect humans. Then we got its emails
Michigan regulators claimed wolves were killed in the Upper Peninsula because they were brazenly aggressive with humans. Internal emails obtained by Bridge tell a different story, suggesting the wolves were killed because they were decimating herds of expensive cattle at a politically connected farm.
As surging Great Lakes threaten Michigan, homeowners beg Canada for help
As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer weighs an emergency declaration for towns besieged by rising waters, a movement is growing to ask Canada to stop dumping millions of gallons of water per day into the Great Lakes through dams in northern Ontario.
Michigan Environment Watch
Michigan Environment Watch examines how public policy, industry, and other factors interact with the state’s trove of natural resources.
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