Susan Phillips is a senior reporter/editor at WHYY’s Climate Desk, where she investigates the intersection of energy policy, environmental health, and climate adaptation. With over 20 years of experience, her work has redefined how regional and national outlets cover fossil fuel impacts.
Avoid pitches about renewable tech startups or carbon offset programs. Phillips seeks stories that connect systemic policy failures to lived experiences, particularly in Appalachia and coastal cities.
Susan Phillips is an award-winning journalist whose work at WHYY’s Climate Desk has established her as a leading voice in climate, energy, and environmental reporting. With a career spanning over two decades, her investigative approach combines policy analysis, human narratives, and scientific rigor to illuminate complex issues.
This seminal series examined the socioeconomic and environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. Phillips combined data from state regulatory filings with firsthand accounts from rural communities to reveal systemic gaps in oversight. Her reporting uncovered contaminated water supplies linked to drilling operations, leading to policy debates about setback distances for wells. The series earned a 2013 duPont-Columbia Award for its blend of investigative depth and narrative storytelling.
Published in The Allegheny Front, this analysis debunked political claims about fracking’s economic benefits by contrasting job growth projections with actual wage stagnation in drilling regions. Phillips highlighted the disparity between corporate profits and local tax revenues, using county-level financial records to demonstrate how infrastructure costs often outweighed short-term gains. The piece remains a benchmark for evaluating energy policy rhetoric.
This 2023 article compared flood mitigation strategies in New Orleans and Philadelphia, emphasizing community-led solutions over top-down engineering projects. Phillips interviewed urban planners and residents to explore how historical inequities shape climate resilience efforts. Her focus on localized adaptation, rather than technical fixes, reflects her commitment to centering marginalized voices in environmental reporting.
Phillips prioritizes stories that examine how federal and state energy policies affect rural populations. Pitches should highlight underreported consequences, such as healthcare disparities near extraction sites or the fiscal strain on small municipalities hosting energy infrastructure. For example, her 2022 investigation into methane leakage in Pennsylvania’s aging pipelines demonstrated how policy loopholes exacerbate public health risks.
She seeks case studies of cities implementing innovative climate resilience strategies, particularly those addressing equity gaps. Successful pitches will emphasize grassroots initiatives, such as Philadelphia’s vacant housing conversion program for flood-displaced residents, which she covered in 2024. Avoid generic “green city” narratives; focus on measurable outcomes and community engagement.
Phillips frequently reports on the intersection of industrial activity and public health. Pitch data-driven stories about regulatory failures, such as her 2021 exposé on Pennsylvania’s lax enforcement of fracking wastewater disposal. Include access to anonymized medical records or environmental testing data to strengthen proposals.
Phillips received this prestigious broadcast journalism honor for The Shale Game, which the jury praised for “redefining energy reporting through investigative depth and human empathy.” The award solidified her reputation as a journalist capable of translating technical environmental issues into compelling public-interest stories.
Her year at MIT focused on climate modeling and coastal resilience, directly informing her subsequent reporting on sea-level rise. This fellowship, awarded to only 10 journalists annually, underscores her commitment to grounding narratives in scientific literacy.
“Reporting on climate isn’t just about disasters—it’s about uncovering who gets heard in policy debates and who gets left behind.”
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Climate, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
