The FBI is joining a criminal investigation into the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, as the fallout continues from the public health emergency.
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Earley served as emergency manager as Flint changed its water source from Lake Huron water, treated by the city of Detroit, to the Flint River in April 2014.
Along with the FBI, this group includes the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General, and its Criminal Investigation Division. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said nearly a month ago it was working on an investigation of the man-made disaster, but it wouldn’t say whether that inquiry was criminal or civil.
This is a developing story.
Dave Murray, a spokesman for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, said the office “will cooperate fully with any authorities looking at what happened in Flint with the water”.
Victims of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint, Michigan, filed suit Tuesday against a public hospital and six state workers, saying the water crisis there led to sickness and death. Thousands of water kits have been sent to the city, but many residents say the real attention should go to restoring the damaged pipes.
In prepared testimony for a congressional hearing Wednesday, Creagh said the state did not require corrosion treatment after officials noticed elevated lead levels in the city’s water in January 2015.
It’s official: Susan Hedman is out as administrator at Chicago’s regional office of the EPA, which is the same office that has been overseeing the water emergency in Flint, Michigan. The hearing is the first since the lead contamination crisis in Flint erupted previous year.
State officials say water samples from roughly 5,000 homes have been tested, and about 94 percent have are below the “actionable level” of 15 parts per billion for lead.
Not only is the crisis in Flint, Michigan, ongoing, the investigation into this catastrophe appears to be expanding. Michigan’s governor has apologized repeatedly for the state’s role.
MDEQ Director Keith Creagh, who took over after his predecessor resigned in December due to fallout from the water crisis, told the newspaper his department would outline the plan on Monday to federal EPA officials.
Efforts to get federal funding stalled when it was deemed that the water crisis in Flint was not natural, but rather man-made, and therefore didn’t fall under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mandate for natural water disasters.
Darnell Earley also was the emergency manager for Flint when its water source was switched in 2014.
Detroit Public Schools (DPS) emergency manager Darnell Earley announced he will step down at the end of February, The Detroit Free Press reported.
An FBI spokeswoman said the agency was determining whether federal laws were broken, but declined further comment.
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A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia water department said: “We are continuing to work with the EPA and the state department of environmental protection on the implementation of nearer-term steps that could strengthen implementation of the existing rule”.
