Emmett Gartner

68 posts

Emmett Gartner is an environmental reporter for The Maine Monitor. Having grown up on the Chesapeake Bay, Emmett has long been interested in stories of adaptation and accountability.

He joined the newsroom in 2023 as a Roy W. Howard fellow and now explores how environmental policy aligns with Mainers’ lived experiences and where climate change complicates the status quo.

Previously, he reported for a daily newspaper in Maryland and spent separate summer stints working as a trail maintenance worker in Nevada, a wildland firefighter in Oregon and an environmental educator on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Contact Emmett with questions, concerns or story ideas: emmett@themainemonitor.org

Language(s) Spoken: English

Roger Bintliff motions towards the floor.

Gardiner business owners gut-punched by insurance coverage revelations after recent flooding

They had no reason to believe their insurance policies wouldn’t cover flood damage. Now they are on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.

ByEmmett Gartner

January 21, 2024

A police officer stands next to an unmarked vehicle.

Police training in mental health lags behind new reality

With a shortage of mental health professionals statewide, law enforcement officers without enough training are being forced to make decisions in crisis situations.

ByEmily Bader Emmett Gartner

January 7, 2024

Police cars outside the Lewiston bar where a mass shooting happened.

How we investigated mental welfare checks in Maine

Ten in-depth interviews with department heads and reviews of numerous records aided the Monitor's investigation of mental welfare check procedures.

ByEmmett Gartner

December 24, 2023

A police car sits in the middle of the road.

Maine law enforcement officers often lack direction for how to conduct welfare checks

Procedures have come under scrutiny since it was revealed that police tried to reach Robert Card weeks before the Lewiston mass shootings.

ByEmily Bader Emmett Gartner

December 10, 2023

exterior of the ND Paper Mill in Rumford.

Pollute less, profit more: How Maine industry is rewarded for cutting down emissions and wastewater

A state tax exemption benefits industrial companies for cutting down on pollution but also draws millions of dollars away from small-town tax revenue, and never expires.

ByEmmett Gartner

December 2, 2023

Aerial view of the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.

$1.6 million in tax revenue on the line for Wiscasset in dispute over nuclear waste facility

The state statute rewards companies for limiting pollution at the cost of the towns where they’re located. For Wiscasset, the price tag could be in the millions.

ByEmmett Gartner

November 19, 2023

Governor Janet Mills speaks at a podium during a Lewiston press conference.

Mills ready to hear proposals to further gun safety

Gov. Janet Mills, according to a spokesman, has begun reaching out to state legislators for ideas in the aftermath of the Lewiston murders.

ByEmmett Gartner

November 5, 2023