Emails show the MI governor’s office knew about the outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in Flint and its possible connection to the city’s polluted water system in March 2015 – 10 months before the public was informed.
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Not in attendance at the hearing were Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who the committee declined to question, and former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, a Democratic appointee of Snyder who oversaw Flint’s mounting water crisis from 2006 to 2013. Earley was originally invited to attend an open committee which was held Wednesday, but his attorney said he would not be able to make it.
EPA’s Midwest regional office urged Michigan’s environmental agency to address the lack of corrosion control in Flint’s water, “but was met with resistance”, Beauvais told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Early is to meet with members of Congress behind closed doors to discuss his role in the city’s water crisis.
Blame ricocheted around the room for hours, as lawmakers, a researcher, a Flint mother and government officials debated failures by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA to deal with lead from corroded pipes that began leaching into city homes following the city’s 2014 cost-saving move to start pumping water from the Flint River. Meijer is also giving $125,000 to the United Way of Genesee County’s Flint Water Fund and $125,000 to the American Red Cross.
More than a quarter of Flint water customers stopped paying their water bills last fall after it was confirmed that their drinking water was contaminated with lead. “We were minimalistic and legalistic in our behavior”, he said.
In Washington, Senate Democrats teamed up with a band of Republicans on Thursday to block a wide-ranging US energy bill in a fight over aid to help Flint cope with the drinking water crisis.
Flint’s water remains tainted with lead from old pipes after the city switched its supply source in April 2014 and has forced residents to use filters before consuming.
Bolden had told the Free Press on Tuesday night that he refused the subpoena because neither he nor Earley had time to prepare but said he would accept another subpoena as long as it isn’t issued on such short notice. “Despite this, we were still told the water was safe”, she said.
Officials haven’t said whether criminal or civil charges might follow the investigation.
“I know people in Flint just want to see this problem fixed and fixed fast and everybody just wants to get on with life”, Laurie said.
Scott said the emails expose “another glaring example of Gov. Snyder saying one thing and emails really revealing something different”.
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The need for that kind of effort suggests an additional way – the first being the apparent political mobilization of a large segment of Flint’s citizenry the Maddow forum made evident – the tragedy in Flint can be reversed.
