BridgeDetroit spent months investigating pollution control laws in Michigan and the impact when companies aren’t required to follow the laws.
Jena Brooker
Jena is BridgeDetroit's environmental reporter, covering everything from food and agricultural to pollution to climate change.
She was a 2022 Data Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism where she produced award-winning coverage on the automotive industry in Detroit and environmental racism. She was also a Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellow in 2022 through CASW, AHCJ, and SEJ. Before joining BridgeDetroit she covered environmental issues across the Midwest as a Reporting Fellow for the national online news platform Grist Magazine.
Jena has a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies from the University of Michigan. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Mother Jones, Salon, Slate, Grist, Next City, Chalkbeat, Planet Detroit, and others.
Posted inEnvironment
A law meant to clean Michigan’s air now costs the state billions with little oversight
A 1965 law exempts facilities that install air pollution control equipment from property taxes.
Posted inEnvironment
Michigan’s heavy industry receives hundreds of millions of dollars to control pollution. When they don’t, they keep the savings.
Critics say the Air Pollution Control Exemption is outdated, poorly enforced, and subsidizes companies for doing what they’re already legally required to do — even when they violate pollution laws.
Posted inEnvironment
Michigan cities lose millions to pollution tax breaks with no oversight, little say
Michigan cities are losing millions in tax revenue from pollution exemptions but have little say in granting them, and aren’t required to track or report the cost.
Posted inEnvironment
FAQ: What to know about Michigan’s pollution exemption law
In Detroit, over the last decade, five companies – three owned by Marathon Petroleum – have received 28 exemptions under the law, equaling about $46 million.
Posted inBusiness, Civic and Community Information, Housing
Years after buying home, Detroit couple caught in aftermath from land bank deal
The conflict highlights concerns over oversight and accountability in special deals between the Detroit Land Bank Authority and developers.
Posted inArts & Culture, Environment
Voices for manoomin: Protecting Michigan’s sacred rice
One Detroit, BridgeDetroit and Great Lakes Now collaboration takes viewers to a northeastern Michigan rice camp
Posted inCivic and Community Information
Harvesting manoomin, Michigan’s Indigenous wild rice | One Detroit
As part of National Native American Heritage Month this November, BridgeDetroit’s Jena Brooker along with One Detroit’s Bill Kubota take us on wild rice harvest where some new manoomin beds now grow because of a dam removal on northeastern Michigan’s Au Sable River.
Posted inCivic and Community Information
Help us report on how concrete operations are impacting Detroit’s neighborhoods
Do you live, work, own a business, visit family or send your children to school in Cadillac Heights off I-75 and Six Mile? We want to hear from you about what needs more attention.
Posted inEnvironment, Political and Public Policy Information
Detroit looks to rezone parcels along the Joe Louis Greenway
The city launched public engagement around efforts to rezone areas along the Joe Louis Greenway to ensure environmentally conscious and appropriate uses of adjacent land.