At least 1,000 people protested at the Capitol on Tuesday, some holding baby bottles filled with brown water.
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His State of the State also included a discussion of their efforts to once again attempt to restore the Detroit Public Schools to a viable educational system, praise for the success of the Auto Industry and pledges to support the high technology that automakers are now pursuing.
Experts say that water treatment would have prevented 90% of the problems with Flint’s water. “We want the state of MI to immediately start taking care of the financial needs of our people”. Early testing has suggested that once the fixtures are replaced, elevated lead-levels in the water drop into the safe zone, according to the Detroit Free Press.
During the discovery process, Goodman said, attorneys and their clients should receive within six weeks emails and other documents from various government officials, including Snyder, that could shed light on a critical yet heretofore unanswered question: How the heck did this occur?
And he was not impressed with Gov. Rick Snyder’s remarks on the water crisis in his State of the State address.
He is also considering whether to release emails related to the crisis, which began when Flint, about an hour’s drive from Detroit, switched its water source in 2014 to save money.
The scandal over the water in Flint has engulfed Mr. Snyder in a firestorm that has reverberated far beyond the state’s borders. He said he wants the new commission to report by November. The water flowing to residents was contaminated with iron given the state Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating it with an anti-corrosive agent in accordance with federal law. Snyder aides pledged that by the end of the week officials would visit every household in Flint to ensure they have water filters.
The Republican said: “To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight as I have before, I am sorry and I will fix it”. The announcement is the first step in what will be a broader plan the state will work on with the city to address the water bill issue, the official said.
But improperly treated water from the Flint River caused lead to leach from the pipes, officials said.
The debacle in Flint began after the governor-appointed emergency manager in 2013 inked a deal to stop buying water from Detroit in order to save money.
Snyder’s mea culpa for Flint’s water woes met mixed reviews.
Did the governor say the right things?
Democrats have seized on the issue with the Democratic National Committee saying Flint shows “what happens when politicians have the wrong priorities”.
“They’ve got a very hard problem, and I know the governor’s got a very hard time going, but you know, I shouldn’t be commenting on Flint”, he said.
“We’ve been working on this for awhile”, she said.
Iler Carter’s statement summed up the sentiments of her fellow Flint residents who gathered at a local bar to watch Gov. Rick Snyder’s State of the State address.
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On Thursday, Hillary Clinton went on national television and chastised Snyder for refusing to ask for federal assistance in order to help the affected residents. The gross mishandling of the Flint water crisis, a crisis that has resulted in the endangered lives of an entire community that was told it was OK to drink lead poisoned, off-colored water, and that has galvanized nationwide outrage and disbelief, is what brought the governor to this point.
