Flint switched its water source in April 2014 from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money.
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For Chaffetz and other Republicans, the blame for the poisoned water lies, at least partially, with the EPA.
Edwards is a world-leading researcher of lead in drinking water and was the first to publicly announce high levels of lead in the Flint water – months before government officials admitted it publicly.
Earley told the committee that he and other Flint leaders “were all totally dependent” on analysis and expertise provided by state and federal officials.
A volunteer unwraps cases of bottled water to distribute to residents affected by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, Saturday, March 5, 2016.
Testing will continue every two weeks at up to 600 sentinel sites across the city, and “the constantly updated information helps determine the quality of the water as it comes into people’s homes”, Snyder said.
“Hedman says the EPA had nothing to do with Flint”, Edwards skeptically asked the panel.
Susan Hedman, a former manager for the Environmental Protection Agency’s region that covers MI, testified that she ordered immediate action in June, as soon as she learned the water was unsafe.
Lawmakers criticized the state agency for mistakes that led to Flint’s failure to treat the water for corrosion control when the city switched its water supply to the Flint River in 2014. The September 2015 memo said, “I’m not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for”.
Earley insisted that Flint’s mayor and city council played active roles in making various decisions associated with the water source switch and water treatment.
Cummings grew frustrated with Earley, who said that the Flint River water was safe even after a General Motors plant reported that the water was corroding its auto parts.
Gov. Rick Snyder and Gina McCarthy, an administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are due to testify at that one. Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling blamed the crisis on the state of Michigans focus on balancing the citys books and choosing low cost over human consequences.Walling also faulted the states emergency manager law, which placed Flint effectively under state control since November 2011. Flint’s use of water utility funds for other purposes, she wrote, were a key factor in the city’s decision to stop buying uncontaminated water from the Detroit supply, and thus justified the choice to deny assistance.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the committee’s top Democrat, told Hedman he was glad she resigned.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said there was plenty of blame to go around.
“I believe that I have been unjustly persecuted, vilified and smeared both personally and professionally in the media and by some local state and federal officials, as well as a misinformed public”, Earley said during his congressional testimony. “Flint residents have fought so hard, our families have endured so much, we simply deserve the same safety and opportunities for our families and children in Flint as anywhere in America”, said Walling.
“You don’t have a to be a water treatment expert!”
“So had they done the minimum under the law”, explained Dr. Edwards, “adding the orthophosphates to the Flint River water, which had been done for 50 year under Detroit, the vast majority of these problems including the leaking pipes, the legionella, the lead would not have occurred”.
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Flint’s emergency manager in place at the time of the switch, Darnell Early, also testified.
