The first criminal charges have been filed in Flint’s lead-tainted water crisis, including allegations that two state regulators and a Flint water plant supervisor tampered with evidence and that the state regulators knowingly misled U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials and the county health department.
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Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby of the state Department of Environmental Quality and Flint utilities administrator Michael Glasgow are charged with tampering with evidence.
The five charges Busch received are misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence, engaging in a treatment violation that violates the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act, and engaging in monitoring violation that violates the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act.
Three government employees in MI are being charged for their part in the Flint water controversy, meaning the ongoing incident has now become a criminal case.
He also was charged with a misdemeanor count of willful neglect of duty by “failing to perform the duties of an F-1 certified operator employed by the Flint Water Treatment Plant”.
“That I can guarantee you”, state Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday in a press conference, according to The Washington Post.
In addition to Snyder, MacIntyre would like to see the city’s former emergency manager charged for the decisions he made – or precautions he didn’t take – in switching the drinking source.
“We have a long way to go”.
For Flint residents, this may be a lot to soak in.
The governor filled a few jugs of filtered Flint tap water this week and pledged to drink it for 30 days to show its safe.
The additional money would help the beleaguered city stay on Detroit’s water system until switching to a regional pipeline and cover costs like intervention services for children with developmental delays associated with lead exposure.
It was Glasgow who left Walters a panicked voice message the night her results came back, warning her, in her words, “Please don’t drink your water”.
The river water was more corrosive than the Detroit system’s and caused more lead to leach from its aging pipes. He previously was on paid leave from his position as the state Office of Drinking Water’s Lansing and Jackson district supervisor after being suspended in January.
Cummings and other House Democrats have called for Snyder to step down because of the state’s poor handling of the crisis, something the governor has said he would not do.
Dr. Steve Lauer, associate chair of Pediatrics at the University of Kansas Hospital said, “Toxic effects of lead have been known for centuries and yet we’re still talking about keeping our water supply safe, certainly it’s disappointing to be hearing about this problem still”. These charges are only the beginning and there will be more to come. Stephen Busch indicating that Flint has an “optimized corrosion control program”, then two-months later, DEQ officials admit, it doesn’t. It said the Flint Water Department “rushed unprepared” into switching to a new water source in spring 2014 without proper use of corrosion controls.
“I feel that this is a distraction”, said Liasia Williams.
“It’s about time that an ounce of accountability was brought to this situation, but the policies that led to this crisis continue to exist”, said Nayyirah Shariff, an organizer with Flint Rising.
According to charging documents, they manipulated results by directing those providing samples to pre-flush their taps, which would reduce the level of lead.
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City employees were involved in treating water at the Flint Water Treatment Plant as well as in testing residents’ water for the state.
