After Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore replies, Snyder says in a second email that he wants the state Treasury Department to help develop “a clear side by side comparison of the health benefits and costs of (Detroit water system) vs. a more optimized Flint system”.
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Weaver refused to join those calls, saying she is staying focused on what she can get from the governor to resolve the crisis.
At the request of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Obama on Saturday declared a national emergency in the state, ordering federal aid to assist in relief efforts.
The governor’s office posted on its website almost 300 pages of emails from 2014 and 2015 that mentioned Flint, where the water has been unsafe to drink because of high lead levels.
The next day, Muchmore wrote to Snyder and other top aides, complaining that critics were focusing on the lead issue and “looking for someone to blame”. “So we’re not able to avoid the subject”.
By October, the Snyder administration was forced to acknowledge lead concerns and help Flint return to the Detroit water system.
In Michigan, public-records laws do not require Snyder to release his email messages, but he was under heavy pressure to do so, especially after an editorial in The Detroit Free Press over the weekend.
Speaking at a joint General Motors-United Auto Workers facility, Obama opened his speech criticizing the water contamination in Flint, which has spurred accusations of government negligence and cover-ups. Snyder, however, did not declare a state of emergency in Flint until January 5.
State officials thought so little of the impoverished city and its 100,000 residents, majority poor and people of color, that they switched the water supply from the pure waters of Lake Huron to the brackish Flint River.
The saga of the drinking water in Flint, Mich., represents an abject failure on the part of government officials in that state. He mobilized National Guard troops to help distribute water a week later.
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”. And not until late last month, when a task force named by the governor issued a scathing report on the administration’s failings, did Mr. Snyder fire the DEQ director and spokesman, and take control of the issue.
Governor Snyder asked the president to re-consider the denial of his request for a federal disaster declaration in Flint. Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year, according to AP. “This disaster is a natural catastrophe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process”.
“Uhh, it’s sad that an entire city is being polluted with bad water and breaks my heart”, said Mike Case, Flint resident. As Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha told CNN: “If you were to put something in a population to keep them down for a generation and generations to come, it would be lead”.
Lead exposure can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children, and kidney ailments and other issues in adults. On Tuesday, he met with Mayor Karen Weaver at the White House to discuss the water crisis. “I said I wasn’t aware of that and that all of the identified children were being tracked by public health officials”.
Facing protests, lawsuits and calls for his resignation, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, apologized to the city’s residents on Tuesday and called for the state to spend $28 million on fixes.
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He asked MI lawmakers to authorize spending on diagnostic tests, health treatment for children and adolescents, replacement of old fixtures in Flint schools and day care centers and a study of the city’s water pipes. That bill got unanimous support in the state House on Wednesday and now goes to the Senate.
