“This is personal, it breaks my heart to see what’s happening in my own hometown”, Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, said of the city he raised his children in. However, the petition that the board members approved was filed by Benjamin Lazarus, which seeks to remove Snyder because of his authorization to move the office that deals with struggling schools, the State School Reform Office/Redesign Office in the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget. It passed by an overwhelming margin of 416-2.
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The proposal includes $25 million for infrastructure needs specific to Flint, which is grappling with lead-contaminated water. Federal spending would be matched dollar-for-dollar by the state of MI under Kildee’s bill and a similar, less costly measure being considered in the Senate.
He also proposed, as part of a 10-year plan, to use tobacco settlement funds to pay down Detroit Public Schools’ debt.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Flint’s schools superintendent also testified at Wednesday’s hearing.
“There is no regular testing for lead”, Averill told CBS Detroit.
“We have performed over one hundred and sixty lead tests throughout the city since switching over to the Flint River and remain within the EPA standards”.
Weaver said the planned visit and the hearing would help “keep Flint in the spotlight” and maintain pressure on state and federal officials to do more.
Flint’s water poisoning began in April 2014, when the city stopped receiving its supply from Detroit, instead shifting to water taken directly from the Flint River, a source known to have a high corrosive salt content. Corrosive salts in the water damaged the pipes, which contain lead, causing that material to be released into the water, and contaminating it. The church had already collected enough items to fill two 26-foot trucks, Lee said.
EPA has also taken blame.
Officials are saying the crisis was avoidable and Congress is investigating why lead levels remained high for months before being declared harmful. They are not covered by the Lead and Copper rule. The mayor has asked Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to help the city obtain the $55 million needed to replace the pipes.
Kildee urged lawmakers to consider separate legislation he has introduced that would spend $765 million to help solve the water crisis in Flint.
“The concept is that the government is taking away life, liberty or property without due process”, said John Fiske, a California environmental lawyer who specializes in water-related cases. “Making matters worse, while the people of Flint go without access to clean safe drinking water, and have even faced fines for not paying water bills on time, Nestlé continues to pump more than 200 gallons of clean MI water from the ground each minute to sell around the world”.
Mayor Karen Weaver told the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee that more needs more work needs to be done to help remedy Flint’s infrastructure issues.
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Governor Snyder was reportedly not called to testify, despite a letter signed by the 18 Democrats on the committee to Chairman Jason Chaffetz demanding that he call upon the governor to be present.
