Residents of the city of 100,000 people had complained for months about elevated readings of lead, a neurotoxin, in their drinking water and the blood of some children, but officials moved slowly to address the problem.
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An investigation into the Flint government is happening now, but the residents of the city are still suffering without clean tap water and may continue to suffer for some time.
Now, the city government is forcing Flint citizens to pay water bills regardless of the quality of the water.
Snyder told committee members it presents an opportunity to “leverage the resources” each brings.
“The water in Flint is still not safe to drink because city and state officials are violating the federal law that protects drinking water”, Dimple Chaudhary, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
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.
Flint is dealing with toxic lead contamination of its drinking water after implementing cost-saving measures.
The crisis in Flint fits this definition on every level.
DEQ Director Dan Wyant resigned in December after acknowledging the DEQ failed to require the addition of needed corrosion control chemicals to the corrosive Flint River water. Baird helped recruit Jones Day bankruptcy lawyer Kevyn Orr to become Detroit’s emergency manager and helped the city navigate the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy in history.
Majority Republicans favor the law. “$500,000 coming out of my own pocket (which is everything I’ve made on tour up to this point) & the other 1/2 being met by@AvitaWater”. He says “that shows the early warning program and improved intervention measures we put in place worked”.
Other stars who’ve donated money or water to the cause include Pearl Jam, Eminem, Puff Daddy and Cher.
But Nick Schroeck, another Wayne State assistant professor and environmental expert, said the judge might determine that government officials already are doing enough to make the water supply safe again. Snyder said at the news conference that officials are trying to figure out where those pipes are so that action can be taken.
A sign sits in front of Flint City Hall as Genesee County Volunteer Militia members and protesters gather for a rally on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, over the city’s ongoing water crisis.
Horwitz said the state commission will examine “whether acts of discrimination were somehow involved with the steps or the outcome that has led to the poisoning of the residents of Flint, a community that is majority African American”.
The state is also working to map out exactly where the old lead pipes are in Flint so it can “come up with the proper priorities about how we replace that infrastructure”, Snyder said.
He announced that the state would have an increased administrative presence in Flint and called it the beginning of a long-term effort. The governor will submit the proposal to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We can not endure this man’s mismanagement another three years.
The complaint, filed Wednesday, says service lines from water mains into homes should be replaced at no cost to customers.
The suit also asks the court to bar the state and other defendants from further violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, in connection with the way Flint drinking water is treated and tested, and the way the public is notified about the results of that testing, and to “mitigate the health and medical risks and harm resulting from defendants’ violations”.
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It’s at least the fourth lawsuit filed over Flint’s lead-tainted water.
