Obama is due to receive a briefing on the federal effort to assist in the cleanup and to hear directly from Flint residents about the toll the contamination has had on their health and their lives.
Advertisement
President Barak Obama will visit Flint, Michigan next week, putting the spotlight on the northern industrial city that has been embroiled in a lead-contaminated water crisis.
After the crisis got national attention a year ago, the city and state have worked to return Flint to its former water source and fix the pipes.
Reuters/Kevin LamarqueMari Copeny, 8, of Flint, Michigan, waits in line to enter a hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington March 17, 2016.
“The crisis in Flint… has brought to the forefront the challenges many communities across the country are facing, including from lead pipes that carry their drinking water and uneven publicly available information around drinking water quality”, Beauvais said.
This week, she’s heading with a bus group to Washington D.C., where she asked to meet the Obamas.
“You’re right that Presidents are often busy, but the truth is, in America, there is no more important title than citizen”, the president wrote.
He added: “That’s why I want you to be the first to know that I’m coming to Flint”. Obama said he plans to “use my voice to call for change” in Flint.
“Letters from kids like you are what make me so optimistic for the future”.
Snyder told the Detroit News Wednesday that he probably won’t join Obama in Flint. Two state officials and a local official have been charged with evidence tampering and other crimes in a MI attorney generals investigation.
In January, the Obama administration declared an emergency in Flint and pledged $80 million in assistance for the state to make low-priced loans to municipalities with water infrastructure issues. After various complaints from residents, research found that the Flint River was 20 times more corrosive than the water in Lake Huron, due in part by the river never being treated with corrosion control agents. He will also be speaking to members of the Flint community.
“I thank President Obama for keeping the focus on Flint families affected by the city’s water crisis and I look forward to welcoming the President to my hometown”.
Advertisement
While Beauvais said the EPA is “pleased with the progress on that” effort with states on the Lead and Copper Rule, “We really need a broader conversation on some of the drinking water challenges and opportunities that we’re facing nationwide”.
