The blame for the Flint water crisis was put squarely once again on Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder during a contentious House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Thursday.
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“The crisis we’re seeing was the result of a state-appointed emergency manager deciding that the city would stop purchasing treated drinking water and instead switch to an untreated source to save money”, McCarthy said.
Under federal law, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had the primary responsibility to enforce the federal clean water standards in the state, while the EPA is responsible for overseeing the state agency.
Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg opened up the line of questioning, asking Snyder to confirm the documented emails he received in 2015 from various members of his staff that discussed the early signs of concern over a rise in legionnaire’s disease in Flint.
In a hearing Tuesday, former city and federal officials placed the blame on each other, as a former EPA official who resigned over the water crisis defended the agency’s actions.
Snyder admitted he was at fault, but not entirely.
“The EPA should have done more, they should have rushed in sooner to rescue the people of MI from Governor Snyder’s vindictive administration and his utter incompetence at every level”, Cummings said.
“You failed”, Chaffetz told EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
232-a-11-(Bishop Bernadel Jefferson, pastor from Flint, Michigan, at news conference)-“to us then”-Bishop Bernadel Jefferson, a pastor from Flint, Michigan, says the city’s residents haven’t been able to meet with their governor”.
But Snyder went on to testify that a water expert at the EPA had “tried to raise an alarm” about Flint’s unsafe drinking water in February of 2015, but was silenced. On Thursday, those calls came from federal lawmakers.
“There will now be an entire generation, an entire generation of children who suffer from brain damage, learning disabilities, and many other frightful effects of lead poisoning that were afflicted on them by Gov. Snyder’s administration”, Cummings said to Snyder.
Snyder has said he has no plans to resign despite efforts in his state of MI and nationally to remove him.
“Off with the head of the head of the IRS”, Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly said about the Republican committee members criticisms of McCarthy. “We were kept at arm’s length”, she said, referring to state officials.
Flint has now switched back to the Detroit water system, which draws its supply from Lake Huron.
The gallery was packed with people who traveled all the way from Flint, plus overflow rooms were filled to capacity, leaving some standing the hall and unable to watch after the 12-hour bus ride.
“I’ve got to tell you: You’ve got to resign”, he said.
“We were strong-armed, we were misled, we were kept at arm’s length, we couldn’t do our jobs effectively”, McCarthy responded.
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“Listen, I’ve accepted responsibility for my state’s officials not doing more to fix the problem”, he said. “You weren’t in a medical coma for a year”.
