“At this point in time I think we need to make it very clear that we are serious, and if they want a bill we want to help the people of Flint”, Stabenow said.
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“He was relying on the experts”, Bolden said.
While immediate treatment of the water was not required after lead was first discovered in January 2015, “corrosion treatment should have been required by the MDEQ”, said Creagh, who took over as head of the state agency last month following the resignation of Dan Wyant. But he’s now the object of attention of United States marshals, who were ordered by congressman and committee chairman Jason Chaffetz to “hunt him down and serve him that subpoena”. But Republican senators remained split on the deal, with some arguing that the package represents an unfair “earmark” for one city and could create a precedent for federal aid for other incidents that they see as a largely state and local responsibility.
Earlier Tuesday, Ananich criticized Snyder for an inadequate, slow response to the crisis, raising concerns about lead testing, water bills and a delay in helping children absorb less lead with nutritional programs.
A lawyer for former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley says if his client is again subpoenaed by a congressional committee looking that the Flint water crisis, he’ll accept it.
Cummings also argued the fault for the crisis was with Governor Snyder and the emergency managers he appointed.
Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the Superfund, Waste Management and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee, today queried the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its efforts to determine where there may be other communities at risk of drinking water contamination similar to what Flint, Michigan has experienced. The more corrosive water from the river, which runs past dumping grounds, caused lead to leach from aging pipes, in Flint, a city of 100,000.
On Thursday, Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Co-Chairs Rosa DeLauro of CT and Donna Edwards of Maryland invited Snyder in a letter to testify at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
A new lawsuit pursuing class-action standing has been filed in the middle of the Flint water crisis.
The oversight hearing comes as the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it is working with a multi-agency team investigating the lead contamination in Flint. At the time, others in the administration were scrambling to respond to suggestions that bacteria in the city’s new water source, the Flint River, could be the culprit.
Snyder briefed city officials and pastors in Flint earlier in the day about his plan, which he will formally outline to the Republican-controlled Legislature next week in conjunction with his annual budget proposal.
Edwards said he’d been warning the EPA for years of the weakness of federal laws meant to prevent such disasters from happening.
But authorities cautioned that the sample size was too small to draw a comprehensive conclusion. “This week’s report suggests that from what we know so far, they are, in fact, doing their job, and the EPA is continuing to test”.
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Furthermore, the officials have put the residents in an ongoing and continuous danger as they falsified the toxic water to be safe and suitable for human use and consumption, MLive reported.
