And even though officials at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have stepped down, and investigations are ongoing, Gov. Rick Snyder and the state will ultimately be held accountable for any long-term damage to residents.
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The announcement from Michigan’s attorney general comes just hours after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced he’s asking President Barack Obama to issue an emergency and major disaster declaration.
“As we work to ensure that all Flint residents have access to clean and safe drinking water, we are providing them with the direct assistance they need in order to stretch our resources further”, said Snyder in a statement.
The lead-level report was released in summer 2015, at a time when state and federal officials became increasingly concerned by reports of contaminated water in Flint, emails show.
Snyder’s request will be reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will advise President Obama whether an emergency and major disaster declaration should be granted.
State officials told anxious residents that everything was fine. Exposure to lead can cause behaviour problems and learning disabilities in children as kidney ailments in adults.
“Recent drinking water sample results indicate the presence of high lead results in the drinking water”, the email reads.
And filmmaker Michael Moore, who originally hails from Flint and has repeatedly called for Snyder’s arrest, declared on Twitter: “And now, murder”.
The documents and emails were released by researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University through a Freedom of Information Act request and viewed by CNN.
There’s a key reason why officials know about Legionnaires’ in the Flint area: Doctors and hospitals must report cases to public health agencies.
Plaintiffs Doris Collins, Robin Pleasant, and Jason Phinisee, all Flint residents who paid for-and in some cases continue to pay for-undrinkable water, filed the suit (pdf) on behalf of approximately 31,000 household residents who have also been affected by the public-health crisis.
Members of the United Auto Workers Region 1-D say they will supply bottled water to three community centers in Flint.
Flint switched back to Detroit’s water in October, and health officials predict that the change will reduce the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the coming years.
Earlier this week, Snyder requested support from FEMA to help coordinate an interagency recovery plan with other federal agencies to provide resources to Flint.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson says he will attend a rally over bad water in Flint on Sunday. “Flint residents are the victims in this crisis and they deserve a more urgent response equal to the gravity of this crisis”, he said in a statement earlier this week.
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Health and Human Services Department Director Nick Lyon said during a Wednesday press conference with Snyder that his agency became aware of a spike in Legionnaires’ cases around Flint in 2014.
