He said that government leaders on the local, state and federal levels had failed the people of Flint.
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Flint was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager when, seeking to save money, it switched its source of tap water from Detroit’s system to the nearby Flint River in 2014.
Snyder said the state has already dedicated $9 million to the project and that he is asking for another $28 million for bottled water, replacing fixtures in schools and treating children with elevated lead levels.
Rick Snyder got around to declaring a state of emergency last week in Flint, six months after his own chief off staff warned last July that Flint residents with legitimate concerns about the city’s water were being “blown off” by state officials. He also is deploying more National Guard members to the city and promises to quickly release his emails regarding the crisis that has engulfed his administration with criticism from across the country.
“Let’s address this decades long crisis now”, Snyder said.
Also Tuesday, Snyder highlighted successes in Detroit post-bankruptcy but warned legislators that the Detroit Public Schools could begin running out of money in the spring if more than $515 million in operating debt is not wiped away with a state bailout.
Snyder pledged to work with Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, in continuing to work toward a resolution and announced he would be requesting an additional $28 million in funding for a variety of needs, including infrastructure, health care for those affected by the crisis, and clean water. “Most of all, you deserve to know the truth, and I have a responsibility to tell the truth”.
Flint returned to using Detroit’s water in October after tests found elevated levels of lead in the water and in the blood of some children.
“Just to see the city of Flint just go down for the last decade, you know, with the crime, with no jobs, all the way down to us not having any water”, Hornaday said.
“Please consider this personal appeal”, said Moore, “from me and the 102,000 citizens of the city of Flint who have been poisoned – not by a mistake, not by a natural disaster, but by a governor and his administration who, to ‘cut costs, ‘ took over the city of Flint from its duly elected leaders, unhooked the city from its fresh water supply of Lake Huron, and then made the people drink the toxic water from the Flint River”.
Two lawsuits have been filed less than a week after a group of protesters took to the state Capitol to demand the governor’s resignation over the water crisis.
This past weekend President Obama signed an emergency declaration for the city of Flint. Research shows lead exposure can affect a developing child’s IQ, resulting in learning disabilities.
But the water in the new system was not treated properly, and so lead leached into it from the old pipes.
Following the switch, residents complained of the water’s smell, taste and color, with some saying the water caused rashes and hair loss.
During Sunday’s debate, Clinton said “every single American should be outraged” by the water crisis, adding that “if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action”.
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The fiasco has bruised Snyder, a former venture capitalist and computer executive who took office in 2011 billing himself as a practical decision-maker and a “tough nerd”.
