Pollution in Michigan

A 2023 project about Michigan’s industrial legacy wins recognition from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Michigan’s oil industry may not be front and center, but it remains active with over 9,300 wells across the state. However, there’s a growing environmental concern linked to the industry.

By refusing to clean up their mess, researchers found, polluters are pushing untold costs and risk onto the public. And Michigan law allows it.

State officials hope Lansing is ripe for new EV manufacturing investment. But more public money is needed to clean the site abandoned during GM’s bankruptcy.

Michigan pays farmers millions of dollars a year in hopes they will voluntarily reduce manure and fertilizer runoff. Farmers don’t need more education. They need laws that finally hold them accountable.

Michigan struggles to keep up as costs mount to clean up sites. But Lansing lawmakers aren’t considering options to raise more money for long-term contamination sites, making them likely to cost millions annually for generations.

The facility is planned for the former Detroit Edison site in Southwest Detroit’s Delray neighborhood, and promises 277 jobs.

The venerable, Rockford-based company famous for Hush Puppies faces plummeting stocks and sales. It’s already spent tens of millions of dollars settling suits for PFAS contamination. Then this year, more PFAS was discovered on its doorstop.

The series of bills should increase business accountability and reduce cleanup costs paid by taxpayers, supporters say. But business groups are wary of them, saying they’re extreme and could push companies out of the state.

From metro Detroit to the Upper Peninsula, automakers and suppliers have polluted dozens of Michigan communities and left taxpayers with the cleanup bill. See if your town is affected.

The auto industry profited in Michigan communities, moved on, and left behind contamination that still festers today. See how Michigan cities have been left holding the bag.

Bridge Michigan explored the public cost of allowing automakers to leave polluted plants behind while they seek state incentives to build new ones. The Michigan Legislature is now poised to introduce bills to hold industry more accountable.

Increasing EV production and closing coal-fired power plants will impact the state’s workforce and communities. Legislation could create a new state office to aid both in the transition.

Michigan’s large-scale business incentives program has drawn growing criticism for awarding billions of dollars to automakers and other industries with little accountability and questions about the quality of jobs it brings in return.

As mega-subsidies through Michigan’s SOAR Fund lose luster with both parties, Democrats propose adding more corporate accountability, oversight and community benefits to incentive deals.

The latest Lunch Break event featured the Bridge Michigan team discussing the findings of the recent industrial legacy reporting project.

The auto industry is getting billions to build battery plants on rural land, while taxpayers pay for contaminated plants left behind. Will history repeat itself? Or will Michigan forge a new path?

Michigan went from strict cleanup laws to among the most lenient. Three decades and 26,000 contaminated sites later, will the state reverse course? Democrats, GOP and business leaders see areas to agree on.

Milan, Romeo and Wyoming are Michigan towns with something in common: All are sitting on shuttered auto plants where legacy pollution may complicate their path to recovery.

Bridge Michigan set out to quantify the financial and environmental toll factory contamination has exacted on Michigan, and what the state can do to avoid repeating history in the shift to EVs. Here’s what we found.