Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) was publicly blamed for the Flint water crisis Thursday by the top Democrat on the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.
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“At some point you can only take so much”, Gov. Snyder said in a defining moment at the Congressional hearing in Washington this morning regarding the Flint Water Crisis.
The governor, who initially declined to testify, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee the Flint water scandal is “a failure of government at all levels”.
In remarks he is planning to deliver Thursday, Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a longtime EPA critic, says that “if the EPA doesn’t know when to step in and ensure a community has safe drinking water, I’m not sure why it exists at all”.
The questioning of witnesses frequently grew heated at times as both Snyder and McCarthy accepted some blame for the debacle in Flint while saying the bulk of the responsibility lay elsewhere. “People who put dollars over the fundamental safety of people do not belong in government, and you need to resign, too, Mr. Governor”, he added. Corrosive water from the Flint River leached lead into the city’s drinking supply.
McCarthy acknowledged that the EPA should have been more aggressive in testing Flint’s water and requiring changes, but she said the agency “couldn’t get a straight answer” from state environmental officials about what was being done in Flint. “You weren’t on that email?” said Cummings.
According to the USA Today analysis of EPA data, there were 600 water systems in which tests at some faucets indicated lead levels exceeding 40 parts per billion (ppb), which is more than double the EPA’s stated limit.
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Lawmakers lambasted Mr Snyder for his handling of the crisis, which he has said was an administrative failure.
The EPA guidelines show that Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), or the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health, is zero for lead.
“Later asked about that action, Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator said that that resignation was ‘courageous.’ Courageous”, Chaffetz said.
Anyone who drank the water – including almost 9,000 children, the population most vulnerable to lead’s adverse side effects – was exposed.
“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.
“We were strong-armed, we were misled, we were kept at arm’s length, we couldn’t do our jobs effectively”, McCarthy responded.
But Mr Cartwright said: “Plausible deniability only works when it’s plausible”. Quickly getting fed up, Rep. Cartwright made it clear that he is over Gov. Snyder’s “phony apologies”, reminding the Governor he was not in a “medically induced coma for a year” and well aware of his actions.
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Snyder was questioned over the lengthy delay in tackling the problem of lead contamination in Flint.
