She said at least $60 million is needed.
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Rick Snyder (R) is turning down a request from House Democrats that he testify about his role in Flint, Mich.’s drinking water crisis.
Snyder is due to present a $54.9 billion spending plan for the 2016-17 budget year.
The US Justice Department launched an investigation into the crisis last month and Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette has also launched an independent investigation. The maximum prison sentence is 15 years.
Flint is under a state of emergency because of lead-tainted water.
The cash-strapped city was reportedly hoping to save $5 million over two years by drawing water from the Flint River beginning in April 2014 rather than continuing to buy it from nearby Detroit. It was an interim measure while a new pipeline to Lake Huron is being built.
That move has provoked a national controversy and prompted several lawsuits by parents who say their children are showing dangerously high blood levels of lead, which can cause development problems.
The lawsuits name Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the former Flint mayor, rank-and-file public employees and others. State officials counter that while the state should have required Flint to treat its water, the EPA did not display appropriate urgency and allowed the problem to fester for months. “And that’s what draws us to this is to get these people their answers”, said Andy Arena, the lead investigator who once led Detroit’s Federal Bureau of Investigation office. Snyder has voluntarily released his personal emails related to Flint from 2014 and 2015, but not his staff’s correspondence.
Households where residents are deemed to be high-risk would be given priority for pipe replacement.
It wasn’t until a local pediatrician published evidence of a huge spike in lead poisoning among Flint children in October that state officials admitted the water was unsafe to drink. The decision exposed residents to untreated water poisoned by lead from old pipes. “We’ll let the investigations determine who’s to blame for Flint’s water crisis, but I’m focused on solving it”.
“I can not imagine he would not support this plan”, Weaver said of Snyder.
Bernero began efforts to rid Lansing of lead service pipes when he was a state senator, his spokesman said.
“That type of stuff just always strikes me as petty”, Jealous told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead”.
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Technical experts with the utility met Monday with Flint officials.
