The Oscar victor (don’t you forget it) recently donated 181,440 bottles of water to residents of Flint, Michigan, where the water supply hasn’t been been clean for more than a year due to severe lead contamination.
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Though the February memo does not specifically mention lead contamination, it does discuss the water quality problems in Flint extensively, including how the city’s water had dangerously high levels of a contaminant called total trihalomethanes, which can lead to liver or kidney issues.
In September 2015, physicians at Hurley Medical Center in Flint warned that the amount of lead in children’s blood had skyrocketed after the switch to river water.
The emails show that from the moment Flint chose to draw its water from a new source, the Flint River, officials were discounting concerns about its quality and celebrating a change meant to save the cash-starved city millions of dollars.
For nearly five decades, Flint drew its water from Detroit’s water system, but concerns about high prices from Detroit helped lead to a switch.
The two-term Republican released the emails a day after his annual State of the State speech in which he apologized again for the emergency and pledged to act. “Although many individuals and entities at state and local levels contributed to creating and prolonging the problem, MDEQ is the government agency that has responsibility to ensure safe drinking water in MI”.
Obama has declared an emergency in Flint, qualifying the city for $5 million. It would also be used to replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and could help Flint residents with unpaid water bills.
Snyder aide Jarrod Agen told the governor on December 28 that the task force’s “harsh” verdict suggested that personnel changes at the environmental department scheduled for after the holidays should not wait. But it also sent another message: safe drinking water in a MI city isn’t the MI government’s problem. That’s key because residents need to understand TTHM in context, and it is key because it appears the mayor has seized on the public panic (sparked, frankly, by their poor communication of the violation notice) to ask the state for loan forgiveness and more money for their infrastructure improvement.
Muchmore goes on to say that while the water in Flint has had occasional “less than savory aspects” there has been no “clear evidence of lead issues, according to information from the Health Department”.
Officials say lead has been found in water at a building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint.
On Wednesday the governor submitted his appeal and says the “considerable” needs brought by the disaster “exceed the funding capabilities of state and local government”.
The response of Michiganders to the plight in MI has been heartwarming.
Obama met with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver on Tuesday at the White House.
Monday, Snyder, a Republican, charged that Clinton and Moore are “politicizing” Flint’s water emergency for personal gain.
Weaver refused to join those calls, saying she is staying focused on what she can get from the governor to resolve the crisis. If a crisis like this can take place in Flint, Michigan, what is to say such a crisis can’t take place at any city across the United States?
“Believe whatever you want about Hillary; whatever she is or isn’t, she’s tough”, Cher said. “They need to be much more aggressive in what’s going on with Flint”, Ms Weaver said later on CNN about the EPA’s response.
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“Uhh, it’s sad that an entire city is being polluted with bad water and breaks my heart”, said Mike Case, Flint resident.
