Lisa Song
Background and career[edit]
Song graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving her Bachelor's in environmental science in 2008, and her Master's in science writing in 2009.[3]
She worked for InsideClimate News, focusing on oil and gas drilling, environmental health, and climate science from January 2011 through February 2017.[4] During her time with InsideClimate, she contributed to the "Dilbit Disaster" Pulitzer prize-winning series in 2013,[1] the "Big Oil" stories, and the Exxon series, which was nominated as a finalist for the Pulitzer prize for public service in 2016.[5] She also won three other awards, including the Edgar A. Poe Award.[5][6]
Song left InsideClimate in 2017 to report for ProPublica, covering energy, the environment and climate change.[2] She has also worked as a freelance journalist, writing for news magazines and journals, including, High Country News,[7] Scientific American,[8] New Scientist[9] and Living on Earth.[10]
Awards and recognition[edit]
2013: Dilbit series[edit]
During her time with InsideClimate News, she won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with David Hasemyer and Elizabeth McGowan, for their reporting on the Kalamazoo River oil spill.[1]
The 3-part series, and follow up stories, were the result of a 15-month investigation on pipeline safety and Dilbit, a controversial form of oil. In the cover letter for entry to the prize, dilbit, is described as "a thick Canadian hydrocarbon called bitumen that is diluted with liquid chemicals so that it can flow through pipes."[1] The pipeline already had corrosion problems and it was more than a week before the EPA knew that they were dealing with dilbit, because the pipeline operators weren't required to tell first responders in the event of a spill; dilbit is different from normal oil, in that the chemicals evaporate and the thick, different form of oil, sinks to the bottom and is very difficult to clean up. The series and follow-up reporting is listed below.