Since I first learned that state water experts were wrong about the lead levels in Flint’s water, we have been taking action to protect and serve the people of Flint – and all of MI – better.
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McCarthy acknowledged that “in hindsight, we should not have been so trusting of the state for so long” when it assured the EPA that action was taken to prevent lead from leaching into drinking water.
“Plausible deniability only works if its plausible”, said Congressman Matt Cartwright.
Cummings continues: “Either you knew and did nothing, or you are an absentee governor”. I understand that the people of Flint are angry; they should be angry.
“The EPA should have done more, they should have rushed in sooner to rescue the people of MI from Governor Snyder’s vindictive administration and his utter incompetence at every level”, Cummings said.
Lawmakers lambasted Mr Snyder for his handling of the crisis, which he has said was an administrative failure.
On Thursday, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s lowered the outlook on Michigan’s credit rating to stable from positive, citing burgeoning costs associated with Flint’s water crisis and the cash-strapped Detroit Public Schools. The city returned to Detroit water system in October, but a potential hazard remains because of damage to the water distribution system.
In her opening testimony, McCarthy had placed blame for the Flint water crisis squarely on MI, saying a state-appointed emergency manager made the decision that led to the contamination and that the state bureaucracy approved it.
178-a-09-(Representative Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during hearing)-“should step down”-House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz calls on EPA Administrator Gina McCarty to resign for mishandling the Flint water crisis”.
Gina McCarthy, the top administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will also testify today.
Chaffetz suggested McCarthy follow her lead after one testy exchange.
“As the MDEQ was doing as the governor’s task force said in trying to discredit anybody who said there was a problem with that drinking water system”.
“Let me be blunt”, he said, according to prepared remarks.
Under questioning from Chaffetz, McCarthy said the EPA should have done more to head off the crisis, but she repeatedly said she did not have the authority to “pull a switch” and force Flint to change its water source.
Cummings also accused Snyder of failing to act despite the fact that he was aware of the lead problem in Flint. Democratic members of the committee were scathing of the Republican governor’s assertion that he did all he could, only to be hampered by failures in the MI department of environmental quality (MDEQ).
However, Republicans on the committee said it was the EPA chief who should resign.
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“We were strong-armed, we were misled, we were kept at arm’s length, we couldn’t do our jobs effectively”, she added.
