Andrew Whitacre
Lisa Song, a 2009 alumna of the Graduate Program and Science Writing, has just been announced as a Pulitzer Prize winner for national reporting, as part of team that authored “The Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You’ve Never Heard Of. The reporting itself began as a seven-month investigation into a 2010 spill of Canadian tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River.
It was originally published with InsideClimateNews. From their announcement:
The Pulitzer-winning entry included a three-part narrative by McGowan and Song, who described the unfolding of the Michigan oil spill from the point of view of those directly involved–residents; state, local and EPA officials at the scene; scientists; and spokesmen with Enbridge Inc., the company responsible for the spill. As the three-year anniversary of the spill approaches, oil is still being removed from the Kalamazoo River.
Song followed up with articles that revealed critical gaps in federal pipeline safety regulations, while Hasemyer focused on how Enbridge’s rebuilding of the ruptured pipeline is affecting the lives of people along the route.
