A worker handles meats at Koegel’s facility in Flint Township on January 22, 2016.
Advertisement
Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, who lost his re-election bid in November amid the water crisis, said newly released emails by Snyder showed that the governor’s staffers disregarded Flint’s plight because of the city’s demographics. “All credit goes to state officials, especially Gov. Rick Snyder, for spending the extra cost for a lifetime of enrichment”. Almost 27,000 children in Flint have been exposed to lead-contaminated water.
Faced with a water contamination crisis that could imperil the health of thousands of people and has has pitted residents against municipal and state officials they have accused of negligence, the Stevens family has had to learn a kind of household triage.
The EPA “is deeply concerned by continuing delays and lack of transparency”, the letter said, describing the measures as “essential to ensuring the safe operation of Flint’s drinking water system and the protection of public health”.
What’s clear, however, is that EPA headquarters in Washington has taken control of managing the crisis, with all media calls being sent there and McCarthy issuing Thursday’s emergency order that requires the state and the city of Flint to agree take immediate actions in Flint, like turning over water testing to the federal agency and post all reports and samples on a public website, or face a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
“We hope that this challenge will inspire a friendly competition between these wonderful campaign organizers, with the overall goal of raising as much money as possible for those affected by this bad crisis”, he said.
The unnamed DEQ employees who were suspended Friday pending investigations work in the agency’s drinking water division, state spokesman Kurt Weiss said. Darnell Earley, described by the New York Daily News as the “emergency manager keeps managing to make emergencies”, is now the emergency manager for the crisis-gripped Detroit public school system. On Tuesday, Snyder struck a different tone with his State of the State address, apologizing to the people of Flint and saying, “I will fix it”. He said state and local leaders were misled by career civil servants regarded as scientific experts on the subject. President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint, authorizing up to $5 million to help MI deal with this man-made disaster.
There was no immediate word from Snyder’s office on the scope of Mercury’s duties or who is paying the firm, which has offices from NY to London, but none in MI.
The environmental agency’s director and communications director resigned last month.
Advertisement
The EPA’s order to state and city officials came the same day that the agency announced that Susan Hedman, head of the agency’s regional office in Chicago whose jurisdiction includes MI, was stepping down February 1. The city switched back to using Detroit water in October, but experts do not know how long it will take for the pipes to stop leaching metals.
