Rick Snyder released his collection of emails from 2014 and 2015 surrounding the toxic water crisis in Flint, hoping to provide a better understanding of how the municipal emergency unfolded, he said Tuesday in his State of the State address.
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A February 2015 email to Snyder contained background on Flint’s water situation from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the state’s top water regulator, mostly addressing advisories related to bacteria and chemical treatment byproducts that popped up in Flint’s water.
President Barack Obama will visit Detroit on Wednesday to highlight a resurgence in the auto industry, but all eyes will be on how he addresses the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and Detroit’s education funding problems.
Lead contamination can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults.
Michigan National Guard Staff Sergeant William Phillips (R) helps distribute bottled water to Flint … The latest on Tuesday asked a judge to stop Flint from issuing shutoff notices to residents, who are still receiving bills for water declared undrinkable. In October, state government ultimately confirmed an increase in the number of Flint kids with elevated blood lead levels after the city’s water switch.
The governor submitted his appeal on Wednesday, likening the crisis to a flood and saying that the city’s lead-contaminated water is a “natural catastrophe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process”.
State officials thought so little of the impoverished city and its 100,000 residents, majority poor and people of color, that they switched the water supply from the pure waters of Lake Huron to the brackish Flint River.
Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore also told the governor that residents were “caught in a swirl of misinformation” about lead contamination and that it was up to local leaders to confront the issue, according to the emails. Following calls for his resignation, Mr. Snyder at first tweeted that “political statements and finger pointing from political candidates only distract from solving the Flint water crisis”.
On Sept. 5, Director of Urban Initiatives Harvey Hollins said to Snyder in an email that more than 1,500 water filters had been distributed to households and that were was a “demand for more”.
“It’s insane that we bathin’ in it and they kinda like under shut it like, man there’s nothing really going on, you can bathe in it. Come to find out you aren’t even supposed to be bathin’ in it”, said Suthai Maxwell, Flint resident.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Wednesday during a U.S. Conference of Mayors event in Washington, D.C., that aid provided so far to Flint water is “not enough”, adding that the city has been “crying” about the issue for nearly two years. She said she wants Snyder to give Flint “the services and the money, the funds that we need to address the population”. “But I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can on the ground to help the people of Flint”.
“You guys remember, ‘Get Shorty, ‘ right?” Rick Snyder says MI will commit $28 million in the short term to pay for filters, bottled water and health professionals in Flint’s water crisis. The money also would cover the replacement of plumbing fixtures in schools, day cares and medical facilities.
“The House and Senate both appropriated $6 million to get the Flint water system transfered back to the Detroit waters system”, Victory said, referring to a vote last fall.
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Muchmore, who recently announced he is moving into the private sector, went on to write that Snyder should agree to a call with Flint’s congressman because otherwise “it will just fan the narrative that the state is ducking responsibility”. The EPA is under scrutiny for its role, too.
