Program - 

Mary Ellen Geist, Great Lake Bureau Chief DPTV

Nick Shroeck, Director of Transnational Environmental Law, Wayne State

Who Owns Our Water

Mary Ellen Geist is an award-winning broadcast journalist and author who was born and raised in the Detroit area.  Mary Ellen graduated from Kalamazoo College with a degree in English and Theater and studied abroad in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She also took writing courses at the University of Michigan.

 

She began her career as a broadcast journalist in Northern Michigan where one of her first investigative reports involved the discovery of trichloroethylene in the groundwater of a small town. She later won several awards for her investigative reporting on the spraying of the pesticide Malathion in Los Angeles. 

 

She became a reporter at KFWB Los Angeles, then spent 13 years at KGO Radio, the flagship ABC station in San Francisco,  before becoming afternoon anchor at WCBS 880 radio station in New York City. She also served as morning anchor at  FM News in Chicago. 

 

She spent several years writing for Traverse Magazine and MyNorth.com in Northern Michigan as well as reporting for CMU Public Radio and Interlochen Public Radio. She also wrote a book about Alzheimer's and music called “Measure of the Heart” which won the Michigan Notable Book Award. 

 

Her 
many honors have included national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for best newscast and investigative reporting, and 
Associated Press Awards for best newscast, live coverage, investigative reporting, and Reporter of the Year.

 

 

Nick Schroeck is Director of Clinical Programs and Associate Professor of Law at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He is an environmental law expert whose work focuses on air pollution, water pollution, environmental justice, transportation, and citizen suit enforcement. Prior to joining Detroit Mercy Law, he directed the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic and taught Environmental Law at Wayne State University Law School. Schroeck also previously served as Executive Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center from 2010-2017. Prior to his tenure at Great Lakes Environmental Law Center he was a Regional Representative with the National Wildlife Federation and a Sea Grant Fellow with the Great Lakes Commission.   
 
Schroeck has litigated cases for several prominent environmental advocacy organizations, including Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Michigan Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. Given the depth of his expertise, Professor Schroeck is regularly sought after by National Public Radio, WDET-FM, and other national and local media to provide analysis on current environmental issues.