Sammy Fretwell

• Environment Reporter
• The State

Sammy Fretwell has covered the environment beat for The State since 1995. He writes about an array of issues, including wildlife, climate change, energy, state environmental policy, nuclear waste and coastal development. He has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association in 2017. Fretwell is a University of South Carolina graduate who grew up in Anderson County.

In 2020 and 2021, Fretwell was part of a team of McClatchy journalists who took detailed looks at major climate issues facing the Carolina coastline. In 2020, the McClatchy team, including reporters from The State and The News and Observer, examined how the changing climate was affecting the health of residents and visitors to the Carolinas. Among those impacts is the threat of a toxic microbe that is expanding and becoming more lethal in brackish coastal waters. The 2021 series examined how rising sea levels were eating away at salt marshes that provide valuable wildlife habitat, anchor the region’s seafood economy and buffer the coast from major storms.