The White House has said it’s supportive of efforts in Congress to allocate funding for Flint, even though it has rejected requests to declare a major disaster in the city due to statutes that limit those to natural events, fires or explosions.
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An investigator on the Attorney General’s team looking into whether any state laws were violated leading to the Flint water crisis says they’ve already begun their investigation.
Although the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it made the decision to switch from Detroit water to the highly corrosive Flint River, it was the Flint City Council that voted 7-1 to approve the decision on March 25, 2013, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“We are going to restore safe drinking water one house at a time, one child at a time until the lead pipes are gone”, Mayor Weaver said at a press conference.
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.
Few new sins are revealed in the latest release of emails related to the Flint water crisis.
The Flint Fire Department is anxious the water could be corroding the fire suppression systems around the city too, the affiliate reported.
“We’re not only proposing a roughly 20 percent increase in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is a key resource for communities like Flint to help rebuild infrastructure for drinking water, but we also have some more innovative proposals more broadly to improve water quality and deal with its long-term challenges”, a senior Obama administration officials told the News.
After repeated assurances from government officials that the new water was safe to drink, Flint residents finally learned this fall that they had been exposed to lead and Legionnaires’ disease and told to rely on filtered or bottled water. “All lead pipes need to be replaced”.
“True to her life’s work of always giving back, fans will be given the opportunity to participate in Beyoncé’s #BeyGOOD initiative supporting local United Way programs and the continued work surrounding the water crisis in Flint, Michigan”. Gov. Rick Snyder formally announced the $30 million plan last week.
The investigators declined to put a timeline on when the inquiry will be completed, but said the scope of potential criminal charges that may be considered include misconduct in office and involuntary manslaughter. His email also didn’t say who ultimately decided against using corrosion control chemicals. The committee is set to talk about how the Flint water crisis has affected children. If approved by lawmakers, the state will have allocated $232 million toward the crisis for this fiscal year and next.
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Flint’s water supply was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure in 2014, when Flint was under state-appointed emergency management. This suit marks the first individual case on behalf of Flint residents, though it is one of a number that has been brought against MI officials in recent weeks.
