The Republican attorney general also said his office is reviewing what can be done to prevent Flint residents from being billed for water.
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In October, the state changed the city’s drinking water source back from the corrosive Flint River to the Detroit water system, but warned that the water still is not safe.
At least 10 people have died from the mainly water-borne Legionnaires’ disease in Flint, but it is not yet known whether these deaths were linked to the toxins were found in the water supply.
Schuette named “tough” former Wayne County prosecutor Todd Flood as the special counsel of the investigation and “no nonsense” retired Detroit FBI chief Andrew Arena as another member of the team.
Many residents of Flint – where 40 percent of the residents live in poverty and the average household income is just $25,000 – are relying on donated bottled water.
Schuette pledged the investigation would be independent and said an ethics lawyer would watch out for conflicts.
“We’re going to open up every door”. But Flood said “there are a plethora of laws” that could potentially be used to charge someone. “It’s about doing it right”, he said. The river had a reputation for nastiness, and after the April 2014 switch, residents complained their water looked, smelled and tasted amusing. A class-action lawsuit alleges the state Department of Environmental Quality didn’t treat the water for corrosion, in accordance with federal law, and because so many service lines to Flint are made of lead, the noxious element leached into the water of the city’s homes.
A number of lawsuits have been filed against city and state officials.
Their responses to the crisis, the EPA said, were “inadequate to protect public health”.
The EPA also announced it will put forward a revision to the Lead and Copper Rule, based in part on the experiences in Flint.
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This in turn led to elevated levels of lead, a neurotoxin that can damage the brain and cause other health problems, in some drinking water and in some children. The EPA expects a proposal to be ready for public comment in 2017. “I would certainly not bathe a newborn child or a young infant in this bad water and if you can’t drink the bad water you shouldn’t pay for it”.
