Bridge readers identified the environment as a top 2026 election concern, with data centers, Great Lakes health and energy policy topping the list. We break down the issues, the facts and possible solutions.
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.
Water’s True Cost
As the nation prepares to pour hundreds of billions of federal dollars into rescuing water systems, the Great Lakes News Collaborative investigates the true cost of water in Michigan. Read the series.
Ready or Not
The Great Lakes region is frequently touted as one of the most climate-resilient places in the U.S., in part because of its enviable water resources. But climate change also threatens our water. The Great Lakes News Collaborative explores what it will take to prepare. Read the series.
Posted inMichigan Government
Bridge Listens: What Michigan’s next governor plans for data centers, clean energy
From data centers to dams and climate change, Michigan gubernatorial candidates tell Bridge what they would do to protect the Great Lakes and wider environment.
Posted inMichigan Government
In their words: Michigan governor candidates on key environmental issues
Michigan governor candidates tell Bridge Michigan how they’d address Great Lakes threats, data centers, aging dams, energy generation, climate change and more.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Whitefish waning. Should Michigan have commercial trout, walleye catches?
Bills under consideration in the House aim to expand commercial access to walleye and trout as whitefish catch rates plummet. Recreational fishing advocates and state fishing regulators object.
Posted inEvents, Michigan Environment Watch, The Center for Michigan
Bridge Listens Issues Watch continues with virtual discussion on the environment
Join Bridge reporters on May 27 as they discuss the issues impacting Michigan’s environment and where candidates stand on everything from data centers to invasive species to climate change.
Posted inOutdoors Life
Take a look inside a Great Lakes sanctuary that protects 200 shipwrecks
The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary off the northeast Michigan coast in Lake Huron contains 100 known wrecks and researchers think there’s at least 100 more.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Supreme Court sides with Nessel in Line 5 jurisdiction dispute
Enbridge had sought to move Nessel’s Line 5 shutdown case into federal court, where the company was expected to get more favorable treatment. But justices unanimously ruled that the company missed the deadline to do so.
Posted inThe Center for Michigan
Bridge Michigan’s Kelly House honored by MIT for science, whitefish reporting
Senior environmental reporter Kelly House and her series on declining whitefish in the Great Lakes were honored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Knight Science Journalism Program.
Posted inOutdoors Life
Public may lose access to part of ‘magical’ Lake Michigan trail near Petoskey
The Petoskey City Council is expected to decide Monday if it wants to accept a settlement that would give the city a year to raise millions and seek permissions to repair a damaged section of the Little Traverse Wheelway.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
EPA move on microplastics, pharmaceuticals draws mixed response in Michigan
Trump administration officials said Thursday they’ll add the two pollutants to a federal priority list — but stopped short of enacting monitoring requirements that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has requested.