Flint, with a population of about 100,000, was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014 when it switched its water source from Detroit’s municipal system to the Flint River to save money.
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Veolia and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, also known as LAN, were sued in Genesee County Circuit Court.
Schuette announced the civil charges during a Wednesday morning press conference at the University of Michigan-Flint, and was joined by Special Assistant Attorney General Noah Hall and members of his Flint water investigative team. “They basically botched it, didn’t stop the water in Flint from being poisoned”. “Their fraudulent and unsafe recommendations made a bad situation worse”.
In April the Attorney General filed criminal charges against several state and Flint officials for contributing to the water contamination. The company said it “will vigorously defend itself against these unfounded claims”.
It was done as a cost-saving measure in anticipation of eventually going with Karegnondi when it starts taking water from Lake Huron. The decision to not add corrosion controls was made by the city and state regulators, not LAN, according to the company, which said it had regularly pushed for corrosion control.
Flint’s water was contaminated with toxic lead soon after, as the leaching of old pipes allowed rust, iron and lead to contaminate the city’s tap water. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said the city is under contract and is still paying LAN for services.
In the case of Veolia, the state is lobbing the additional charge of fraud. Though the city is back on Detroit’s water system, Flint citizens remain under orders to use a filter because of lead that remains in the system. When the company issued a report on Safe Drinking Water Act compliance in 2014, it “did not address the issue of corrosion control and took no action to implement corrosion control”, according to Schuette’s statement on the complaint today.
Weaver held a press conference following Bill Schuette’s announcement that lawsuits would be filed in connection to the Flint water crisis. The addition of ferric chloride only compounded the city’s problem and danger to its residents, according to the lawsuit.
“Veolia again states that there is no health or safety problem”, saying that discoloration did not mean that the water was necessarily image, the lawsuit said.
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby are accused of misconduct, tampering with water monitoring reports and violating state drinking water laws.
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Snyder has apologized for regulatory failures while the poverty-stricken city was under state financial management and began drawing its drinking water from the local river in a cost-cutting move.
