The community group Flint Rising and the AFL-CIO say members of five families will be present Tuesday in Washington when Flint’s former state-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley is expected to testify. The river water is far more corrosive than the Lake Huron water the city had been buying from Detroit, which was treated with corrosion-control chemicals. It has also led to several lawsuits in state and federal courts, and federal and state investigations.
Advertisement
As is by now well-known, that decision ultimately saved the city some short-term costs.
The House-Senate panel is supposed to determine what led to the disaster, develop solutions and make sure other cities do not face similar problems, said chairman Sen.
Hedman’s resignation “doesn’t heal the sick and ease the suffering of the residents of Flint”, Chaffetz said.
The crisis has drawn national attention and led to calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to resign.
On Tuesday, it became pretty hard to argue that these critics were totally and completely wrong.
But Earley said in hindsight he should have done more to challenge the experts who told him Flint’s water problems were harmless to human health and geographically limited in nature.
The audit “certainly shows that we have weaknesses within the DEQ”, Stamas said after the meeting, at which Auditor General Doug Ringler and staff testified.
According to the crisis takeaway document: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 was aware of dangerously high levels of lead in Flint drinking water in April 2015, yet failed to act until January 2016 when they were forced to intervene.
– edsdet (@edsdet) March 15, 2016#FlintHearing: Rep Horton to EM Earley: “The “experts” seem to have been citizens in Flint” – Earley trying to blame DEQ.
State Representative Ned Canfield is on the joint committee and says lawmakers owe it to the people of Flint to find some answers.
Earley took over as emergency manager in Flint in October 2013 – seven months after the Flint City Council approved the water switch and former emergency manager Edward Kurtz signed it. “I guess being a government agency means you never have to say your sorry”.
The hearing focused heavily on a June 2015 internal preliminary report by an EPA scientist, which raised alarms about extremely high lead levels at one resident’s home, Flint’s methods of testing for lead in water and its lack of corrosion control.
Snyder is scheduled to appear in Washington on Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which on Tuesday aggressively questioned former city and federal officials about the crisis. “I purposely observed, witnessed and uncovered wrongdoing by Ms. Susan Hedman at the U.S. EPA in covering up this problem”.
Rep Jody Hice, R-Ga., said later that he was “shocked, stunned by the audacity of Ms. Hedman’s remarks here today”.
It was really rather remarkable. For months, the city of just under 100,000 people, 40 percent of whom are below the poverty line, has had to relied on bottled water. Flint has actually been under the control of four different emergency managers since 2011.
ADLER: It can be an uncomfortable seat to be in, but the governor is going to be ready.
Advertisement
It’s worth noting that inside Detroit’s schools, conditions are so bad that they truly must be read to be believed. “My hearing has changed”.
