The chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday expressed deep disappointment at government failures at the local, state and federal levels which led to high lead levels in tap water in Flint, Mich., as he opened the first hearing into the water crisis there.
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US lawmakers criticized environmental officials at a hearing on Wednesday for not acting sooner when they saw a report that drinking water in Flint, Michigan was polluted with dangerously high levels of lead. The U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit said in January that it was investigating the water crisis with the EPA. “Participation before this committee is not optional”. Virginia Tech researcher Siddartha Roy states in an article that del Toral was under virtual house arrest: “Del Toral, gagged and effectively placed under house arrest by EPA Region 5 Administrator and political appointee Susan Hedman, was certainly guilty of doing his job”.
Legislative leaders said Wednesday they are open to spending $30 million to help pay the water bills of Flint residents facing an emergency over a lead-contaminated water supply, though a top Democrat said the proposed state funding should be doubled. For some reason, and I can’t imagine what it might be, MI governor Rick Snyder has not been called to testify. “If we act selectively for political reasons then we become a part of the problem”.
He was the city’s state-appointed manager when Flint stopped using water from Detroit and switched to the Flint River while a regional pipeline was being built to Lake Huron. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems.
Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who chairs an environmental committee, said an agreement to help Flint was close and would be a combination of revolving funds and other aid.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that federal agencies have made “substantial progress” in responding to Snyder’s requests. “This is a failing at every level”.
Bolden said Earley is “not hiding anywhere” and will honor a subpoena issued with a reasonable response time.
Dave Murray, a spokesman for Snyder, said, “It’s important to look at missteps at all three levels of government – local, state and federal – so such a crisis doesn’t occur again”.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is working with a multi-agency investigation team on the Flint water contamination matter, including the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, EPA’s Office of Inspector General and the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division”, Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Michigan’s eastern district, said yesterday in a statement. “You need something that is false to build a case”. “It was the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality telling the EPA they had this thing under control, that they were using corrosion control in Flint, when they were not”.
The lawsuit urges the city and the state to refund $150 million dollars in water bills paid by affected Flint residents and businesses for the time the city’s water was being extracted from the Flint River, The Baltimore Sun reported. “We’re serious about making sure that the people responsible for this manmade disaster are held accountable”, said Bernadel Jefferson, a bishop. “In fact, the governor should write a check tomorrow for the $60 million that the mayor has asked for… he’s sitting on a billion-dollar surplus”, Kildee argued.
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In prepared testimony for a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Creagh said state officials “relied on technical compliance (with the law) instead of assuring safe drinking water”.
