Protesters gather outside the state Capitol before Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s State of the State address, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. With the water crisis gripping Flint threatening to overshadow almost everything else he has accomplished, the Republican governor again pledged a fix Tuesday night during his annual State of the State speech.
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The funding received quick and unanimous approval just over a week after it was proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
In an email from the District Engineer of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, Michael Prysby sent out a notice to several members of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality.
The water crisis began in April 2014 when a state appointed emergency manager made a decision to switch Flint’s water supply source to the Flint River to save money.
Emails released by liberal group Progress Michigan Thursday include a facility announcement responding to a notice that the city’s water contained levels of trihalomethanes, a chlorine byproduct linked to cancer and other diseases, that violated federal standards for safe drinking water.
The money is meant to pay for bottled water, faucet filters, testing kits, additional school nurses, medical treatment and to help the city with unpaid water bills.
It is the second round of state funding allocated since the lead contamination was confirmed in the fall.
Snyder still must sign it. That could come Friday.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports on the Flint emergency funding bill passed by the Michigan Legislature. Without the extension, the official emergency there would have expired on Monday.
A state legislative leader from Flint says the suggestion that the public also could drink from the water coolers is “insulting”. It instructs the state auditor general’s office to audit the use of the money at least every six months. “Governor Snyder needs to explain to the people of Flint why his administration trucked water into a state building while allowing residents to drink unsafe water”.
An assessment cited in Michigan’s request for a federal disaster declaration estimated the potential cost of fixing the damage to Flint’s water distribution infrastructure at $713 million. Preliminary votes on the overall energy bill are expected as soon as Thursday.
The Board of State Canvassers on Thursday rejected petitions to recall Snyder over his handling of Flint’s lead-contaminated water.
Holtz said that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the oversight committee, is “abetting Snyder in what some have called criminal acts” by not calling him to appear before the panel.
“Trying to understand what’s going on there and making sure that all of our processes are in place to try to prevent things like that from happening”, Jade Dundas, the director of Asheville’s Water Resources Department, said.
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Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for DTMB, told the Detroit Free Press that the water coolers were still being provided because “there were more findings [of contamination] as we went along”. The two lawmakers say officials must hear from everyone involved to understand how the crisis in Flint occurred and how a similar problem can be prevented.
