Career Civil Servants and the Culture of Government is at the Heart of Flint Water Problems, Says Governor
Michigan Governor Throws Government Workers Under The Bus For Flint Disaster
January 22, 2016The Huffington Post - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) had no issue shouldering responsibility for the water crisis afflicting the city of Flint, Michigan, but not without also blaming his own employees.
"There were major failures here," Snyder said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday. "People being much too technical, not having the culture of asking common-sense questions."Flint's water became poisoned with lead after the city switched its water source nearly two years ago.
Snyder said that he's accepted responsibility for the disaster and is now focused on fixing the problem.
Yet he did not shy away from condemning government workers who "made terrible decisions" in determining that the high levels of lead in Flint's water were not a concern.
"It's part of the problem with culture in government," Snyder said. "The department heads were not being given the right information by the 'experts.' These were career civil servants and had strong science, medical backgrounds. But as a practical matter, when you look at their conclusions, I wouldn't call them experts anymore."
The Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator, Susan Hedman, resigned on Thursday. She belonged to the team that oversaw state officials' handling of the crisis.
January 21, 2016
Yahoo News - In an effort to offer answer mounting questions about who is at fault for the contamination of Flint’s drinking water, Governor Rick Snyder broke with his exemption from Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act and released emails he sent and received regarding Flint during 2014 and 2015.
The 274-page trove (PDF) published Wednesday evening offers new insight into the evolution of the Flint water crisis from the state’s perspective, including efforts to deflect and later begrudgingly acknowledge state responsibility.
In one noteworthy email dated September 25, 2015, Snyder’s then-Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore offers an answer to perhaps the biggest question that has loomed over Flint for the past two years: who decided to switch the city’s water supply from Detroit to the Flint river?
According to Muchmore, it was former state Treasurer Andy Dillon who made the fateful call.
“I can’t figure out why the state is responsible except that Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we’re not able to avoid the subject,” Muchmore wrote to Snyder, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and other top gubernatorial staff.Muchmore’s finger-pointing email came one day after Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha released a report showing a rise in lead levels among Flint children over the period of time since the river water switch.
On September 29, nearly a year and a half after Flint residents began expressing concerns about the quality of their tap water following the April 2014 switch to the Flint river, Snyder acknowledged the city’s lead problem for the first time.
But the governor had hardly been in the dark about the situation before that point. The newly-released emails reveal behind-the-scenes discussions between the Snyder and his staff about the Flint water issue dating back several months.
An email chain from January 22, 2015, shows Snyder staffers planning to two separate meetings to discuss “the flint water topic” internally and with Flint officials.
On February 1, before Snyder was slated to announce the state’s plan to award Flint $2 million in “Distressed Cities” grants “for water system improvements,” Press Secretary David Murray sent the governor a particularly insightful briefing that now provides new clues as to what Snyder actually knew about the Flint situation at that time and how the state chose to respond
Among the attached documents intended to get the governor up to speed, is a copy of a Facebook post by Flint Mayor Dayne Walling about a letter he’d recently sent to Snyder asking him to “quickly implement” his proposed “Flint Water Improvement Plan,” to ensure that “Flint’s water is 100% safe.”
In the Facebook post, Walling calls on Flint residents to do their part in urging the governor to enforce the plan as well, writing, “access to clean, safe, affordable water is a basic human right.”
“The struggle with our water has gone on for far too long,” reads Walling's Facebook post. “The state must take action and do its part.”The briefing points out that Mayor Walling reiterated his requests for state and federal assistance, as well as a personal visit from the Governor to Flint, in a guest column at the Flint Journal.
Murray notes that the governor has also received a letter from state Rep. Sheldon Neeley, a Flint Democrat, who wrote that his constituents are “on the verge of civil unrest.”
An attached backgrounder provided by the Department of Environmental Quality pins the river water idea on the city of Flint and attempts dispel concerns about water safety in light of a recent public notice that high levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, in Flint tap water violated the legal limit.
TTHM, a byproduct of treating the river water’s organic matter with chlorine, “is a chronic health threat,” reads the DEQ document.
“Over the long term (measured in decades), continued exposure can contribute to some unknown health problems,” which is why the EPA calls for quarterly testing and requires that a public notice be issued only if “the standard for [TTHM] is exceeded over several consecutive quarters of testing,” as it did in Flint's case.While this means that “people who use the system are exposed to TTHM for several months before the public notice is required,” the DEQ explained, “it’s not like an eminent threat to public health.”
The DEQ also offered a number of benign explanations for the Flint water’s unusual color, taste, and smell, noting that The Safe Drinking Water act, “and the program here in Michigan, work to ensure that water is safe to drink. The act does not regulate the aesthetic values of water. **include screenshot of explanations for water discoloration.”
Assurances of the Flint river water’s safety continued until September 25, after which a series of emails between Snyder, Wyant, Muchmore and other officials show progressive recognition of the state’s role in the escalating crisis.
“Simply said, our staff believe they were constrained by two consecutive six-month tests. We followed and defended that protocol,” Wyant wrote in an email to Snyder on October 18. “I believe now we made a mistake...optimized corrosion control should have been required from the beginning.”
Amy Becke ·
After 30 years of working in federal government and coordinating with state and municipal governments - my takeaway is that the top levels are populated with sycophants who don't have the guts to deliver bad news to their own bosses. Those who raised unpleasant truthes were excluded.
While Snyder bears much of the blame- the buck stops here philosophy-he is correct about state government employees. I know of what I speak. I worked in Michigan state government for 22 years in human resource management and was employed in four different state agencies, including the central human resource management agency for all of Michigan state government: the Department of Civil Service. While there are many exceptions there is an overall environment of complacency, inertia, lack of responsibility, and lack of expertise.
Joe Smith
You are correct Thomas. Like you, I worked for the state in two different departments so I know what you're talking about regarding lack of responsibility, complacency, etc. But I have to stress that this mainly applies to management positions where once people get promoted, they tend to lose all common sense and don't really care about the work that the people they supervise are doing. I had a manager that refused to learn how to use a database program that I used to calculate grant payments to local governments because "It's not efficient for me to learn how to use it!" Those were her exact words, yet she referred any complaints from local governments that received the grant funding to me so she wouldn't have to deal with them yelling at her. Then when I tried to explain a technical issue to her, her eyes would glaze over and she would tell me to talk to somebody else about it. Managers at all levels are notorious for doing things like this.
Joseph P. DeJack
All one needs in order to investigate what happened here is an internet browser as all of the steps that were taken were reported as they happened. If you look back, here is some of what you will find. On April 19, 2013, Governor Snyder met with representatives from Flint, Genesee County, and the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD). Why did they meet? Because Flint was planning to stop using the DWSD and switch to the Karegnondi Water Authority based on a project that would not be done until late 2016 (using water from Lake Huron) and, in response, the DWSD had sent a notice to Flint stating that the former agreement with DWSD would end on 4-17-2014 (the notice didn't say the water would be turned off, but said the agreement would end).
At the time of the 4/19/13 meeting, DWSD was under the authority of Kevin Orr, the emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder (Orr did not turn the DWSD over to Duggan until 7/29/14). At the time of the 4/19/13 meeting, Flint was controlled by another emergency manager hired by Governor Snyder, Edward Kurtz. Governor Snyder could have quashed the entire issue right there, at the 4/19/13 meeting by instructing both of his emergency managers that the DSWD would continue to provide water for Flint until the project was done. What happened instead was that on June 16, 2013, Governor Snyder's emergency manager, Edward Kurtz, ordered the use of an interim water source, the Flint River.
Recent criticism has correctly referenced the fact that this move to use the Flint River on an interim basis was enthusiastically supported by Flint's mayor, Walling, but it should be noted that he had no authority to order it as the city was under the control of EM Kurtz. The result was disastrous.
If Governor Snyder truly wanted to take responsibility for what happened, in his speech last night, instead of saying the decision was made to use the Flint River in the interim, what he should have said was that his EM ordered it and that he could have instructed Kevin Orr to allow Flint to continue receiving water from the DWSD until the project was completed, at the meeting on April 19, 2013, but he didn't. Then, he should have announced that he was stepping down because, although there is plenty of blame to be thrown at people outside of the Snyder administration (such as Mayor Walling, the EPA, etc.), in the end, it was Governor Snyder's emergency manager in Detroit, Kevin Orr, who controlled the DWSD on April 19, 2013, and it was his emergency manager, Edward Kurtz, who ordered the use of the Flint River on an interim basis on June 16, 2013.
David Debertin ·
Works at University of Kentucky
If the EPA cannot assure a safe drinking water supply, why do we have an EPA? Just asking...If the EPA weren't so fixated on fighting climate change via drastic and ineffective rules, maybe they could get back to the basic problem of assuring that drinking water supplies were pure.
The criminality of what happened to Flint Michigan must be dissected and reviewed numerous times to make sure that we have indeed learned our lessons in terms of community and resource management. My first inclination is to blame the knee jerk readiness to privatize everything in society, my second impulse is to assign blame on the austerity provoking response of "fiscal emergency managers" who take all power and accountability away from communities and demand action only in as far as it cuts costs without regard for consequences to public health. I am not sure how much due diligence was done between the transfer of water usage between the water from Detroit and the Flint River, but it seems to me that there were glaring issues, but who was at the helm at that moment, the experts or the fiscal emergency managers? The global underlying issue in this matter is the minute you have poverty, minorities or not, poverty is the real issue, you have a lackadaisical response because those poverty stricken people do not have as much of a voice or importance as the wealthier seem to have. This lesson is one of the most important that needs to be remembered, poverty should not diminish your most basic rights, it just shouldn't.
Charles Cardona ·
This is about decades of corruption, between corrupt unions, corrupt politicians, corrupt public officials and duped voters.
Duncan Mcdannold
Agree with him to the extent most metro water and sanitation groups are kind of a closed cult or fiefdoms. Interfering or even monitoring what they are doing is not easy. The Districts spend most of their time trying to justify new bonds or financing for upkeep or upgrade. Often times there are other "undercurrents" as many large contracts are issued that have a big economic impact in the metro areas. Being blind to the problems or just downright stupid is no excuse for the locals or the state government, but the result is the same--lead poisoned water.
Darren Finch ·
So lets go back to basics, how did the lead get into the water?
Car industry dumped toxic waste either legally (for a kickback) or illegally for decades, the councils have known about it but didn't care and as this like the tax base dissolving again not caring as long as they get paid their crazy salaries plus kick backs
The decision to change was because the city was broke and 4 emergency managers over the past 10 years have made the decision to create their own water system which won't be ready til later this year. So rather than being forced to sign a long term water agreement with Detroit they used the Flint River water. So I'm not one to blame the governor solely because to me it's Flint Council where the blame lay and as Synder says public servants
.
Hoyt Still ·
It
took years to figute out how to get a trillion dollars for the roads in
Michigan. Now, Flint will need over a trillion to fix this Snyder
disaster of epic proportion. Not sure Flint is worth a trillion to fix,
so maybe its time to find them new places to live, similiar to the
Katrina disaster that caused thousands of families to move to cities
with available housing.
Hoyt, Detroit Schools are 500 million in debt, Snyder is going to bail them out like he bailed out Detroit. I'm not sure how far they were going to get with roads when we have all these Cities falling down in the ditch and needing taxpayer dollars because of their own Govt./School Administration failings.
Works at AtlantiCare
People
hire people of experience and qualifications to do a certain job. We
trust that the information we are given, is trustworthy. When these
people lie and pass over quality measures then we are in trouble. He is
not passing the blame. He took the blame but is also saying the people
he hired did not do their job.
The
people who own the water facilities which are rich international
foreigners who do not have our best interests at heart should be the
ones held responsible and the state department people who helped to
cover their crimes! This is not just happening in Flint Michigan but
across the country. The eco damage is huge a long with the harm to
Americans we need to kick out these poeple who poison our water supplies
or send them to jail. In Sacramento, CA they found nuclear waste in
their water supply we need to correct this grievance against America!
They are adding chemicals that are not needed through false readings and
adding chemical that cause brain damage and cancer!
Al Ca ·
John A Majane III ·
The emergency manager was a financial manager. The democrats running the city decided to change the water supply because they felt the democrats running Detroit were charging them to much. They brought their proposal to save money the financial manager who signed off based on the information provided to him. The democratic mayor, when the complaints started coming in, said nothing was wrong. The democratic appointee running the EPA section in Flint was made aware of the issue and did nothing. But no it is the governors fault because the left is trying to win an election this year and is taking no responsability
John Smith ·
You all are so blinded by partisanship! The Governor of Michigan nor the EM are responsible for treating the water. The City of Flint chose not spend to $100/day to treat the water to prevent corrosion. The DEQ hid this and even went as far as tossing the 2 highest samples to show Flint's water was below the legal limit. Stop proving what so many say about Democrats. Facts/Truth doesn't matter to a Democraty only feelings...
Laura Swartout ·
The Public Sector employees who oversaw Flint have been around since the 80's and 90's. The main players, Darnell Earley, Emergency Manager and MDEQ appointee, Dan Wyant were also utilitized by Democrat Gov. Jennifer Granholm......So YEAH, as a Michigan resident I do blame these Public Sector workers, and right down to the water treatment plant.
Peter Buchta ·
Please supena the information provided to the state agency who provided the recomendation to the governor. I also would like to see the agency's conclusions and recommendations to the governor's office.
Eddie F Stevens ·
No mention that Susan Hedman, a regional director of the Obama administrations E P A resigned today as a result of the botching of the Flint, Mi water crisis. Also interesting that no mention is made of the catastrophic water polution orchestrated in Colorado earlier this year. Reports also came out today that folks in some zipcodes of Detroit, Michigan, a rock solid Democrat strong hold for over 50 years, have been drinking water with higher lead levels than those found in Flint, Mi water. The city has had a Democrat Mayor and 100 % Democrat city council since the 1970's. The Detroit water system ( which Flint, Michigan's 100 % Democrat city gov't demanded to leave ) supplies much of southeast Michigan's water and was allowed to deterioate for decades and had to be taken over by a regional authority but is still so old and unmaintained that much of the system's underground piping is 1890's wood pipe !
Al Ca ·
Works at US Dept of Defense
Hard
question please, this case is no differences from the whole federal
government system, the States are becoming in everyway like the Federal
government. layers of layers screw ups all the way. At the end NO one is
held accountable be allowed to keep their benefits..John A Majane III ·
The emergency manager was a financial manager. The democrats running the city decided to change the water supply because they felt the democrats running Detroit were charging them to much. They brought their proposal to save money the financial manager who signed off based on the information provided to him. The democratic mayor, when the complaints started coming in, said nothing was wrong. The democratic appointee running the EPA section in Flint was made aware of the issue and did nothing. But no it is the governors fault because the left is trying to win an election this year and is taking no responsability
John Smith ·
You all are so blinded by partisanship! The Governor of Michigan nor the EM are responsible for treating the water. The City of Flint chose not spend to $100/day to treat the water to prevent corrosion. The DEQ hid this and even went as far as tossing the 2 highest samples to show Flint's water was below the legal limit. Stop proving what so many say about Democrats. Facts/Truth doesn't matter to a Democraty only feelings...
Laura Swartout ·
The Public Sector employees who oversaw Flint have been around since the 80's and 90's. The main players, Darnell Earley, Emergency Manager and MDEQ appointee, Dan Wyant were also utilitized by Democrat Gov. Jennifer Granholm......So YEAH, as a Michigan resident I do blame these Public Sector workers, and right down to the water treatment plant.
Peter Buchta ·
Please supena the information provided to the state agency who provided the recomendation to the governor. I also would like to see the agency's conclusions and recommendations to the governor's office.
No mention that Susan Hedman, a regional director of the Obama administrations E P A resigned today as a result of the botching of the Flint, Mi water crisis. Also interesting that no mention is made of the catastrophic water polution orchestrated in Colorado earlier this year. Reports also came out today that folks in some zipcodes of Detroit, Michigan, a rock solid Democrat strong hold for over 50 years, have been drinking water with higher lead levels than those found in Flint, Mi water. The city has had a Democrat Mayor and 100 % Democrat city council since the 1970's. The Detroit water system ( which Flint, Michigan's 100 % Democrat city gov't demanded to leave ) supplies much of southeast Michigan's water and was allowed to deterioate for decades and had to be taken over by a regional authority but is still so old and unmaintained that much of the system's underground piping is 1890's wood pipe !
Arlene Nidowicz Doyle ·
William L. Dickinson High School
why did the head of the epa in michigan retire? this is a total failure and crime from the city all the way up to epa in D.C.Eric Reither
First
you have to understand what Snyder has had on his plate. Snyder has had
to deal with more cities in Michigan in bankruptcy than any other
State. Now who was running these cities? Democrat politicians in every
position in those cities have had more corruption than the cities
surrounding them. So reflect on how long Flint has had water issues, and
how many people stood by to do nothing.
Laura Swartout ·
Snyder appointed majority Democrat's to oversee Flint, he did it purposely to show faith to a Democrat Town, by appointing a Democrat EM to show up and work with the Democrat City Govt. to work on the behalf of the Democrat citizens.
Gary Main ·
What
GOV agency and people signed the approval with the attached amendment
proving the Flint River was a qualified Water source? That is a requirement.
Mike
Previous water was treated already when they bought it from Detroit. Not sure why the water treatment facility in Flint did not test, then treat the water when they changed sources. The required testing should be available - it is reported to the EPA and the state equivalent. I wonder why, in a cost saving move, the didn't try and re-negotiate with Detroit for the water? Detroit's water treatment and supply has to be WAY under capacity. Hasn't the city lost half its population and industry? They should be willing to deal.
JimC
All you left-right haters are just fools. The sooner you fools realize the left and the right are the same and are both toxic to our country, the sooner it will start to recover. Both sides are corrupt, both sides get tons of $$ from big corporations, it is simply 2 sides of the same coin. By constantly fighting over which side is better, you're buying into what the politicians want. They'd rather have you fighting amongst yourselves than seeing what either side is actually doing. Pull your heads out of each others rear ends and open your eyes.
D
My understanding is that the original deal created by the Flint city council 7-1 and signed off on was to pull directly from Lake Huron, but it was Detroit who notified Flint it was going to cease selling water to them well before the new plan was even set to take effect. Flint had to scramble to find a new source and settled on Flint River, despite prior reports saying it has the "most degraded water quality among the Saginaw River tributaries." This is where the breakdown began. But Mayor Walling pulled that switch April 25, 2014 with his unfortunate celebratory statement of, "Water is an absolute vital service that most everyone takes for granted. It's a historic moment for the city of Flint to return to its roots and use our own river as our drinking water supply". This was a disaster just waiting to happen after Detroit refused to continue to supply. I'm having trouble with Mayor Walling going from rah rah Flint River to FaceBook pages making demands of the state. Certainly the emergency manager had a role (who to my understanding is a liberal for all you republican haters out there), along with the other elected officials of Flint, to take affective actions once the problems were noted. I don't claim to have read all the email, but it does seem like every got mired up in 'the bureaucratic processes' to evaluate and test rather than doing the right thing! So next time someone says all we need is another federal law... does it really help the matter of just create spin and meaningless effort and expense.
Mike
Previous water was treated already when they bought it from Detroit. Not sure why the water treatment facility in Flint did not test, then treat the water when they changed sources. The required testing should be available - it is reported to the EPA and the state equivalent. I wonder why, in a cost saving move, the didn't try and re-negotiate with Detroit for the water? Detroit's water treatment and supply has to be WAY under capacity. Hasn't the city lost half its population and industry? They should be willing to deal.
JimC
All you left-right haters are just fools. The sooner you fools realize the left and the right are the same and are both toxic to our country, the sooner it will start to recover. Both sides are corrupt, both sides get tons of $$ from big corporations, it is simply 2 sides of the same coin. By constantly fighting over which side is better, you're buying into what the politicians want. They'd rather have you fighting amongst yourselves than seeing what either side is actually doing. Pull your heads out of each others rear ends and open your eyes.
D
My understanding is that the original deal created by the Flint city council 7-1 and signed off on was to pull directly from Lake Huron, but it was Detroit who notified Flint it was going to cease selling water to them well before the new plan was even set to take effect. Flint had to scramble to find a new source and settled on Flint River, despite prior reports saying it has the "most degraded water quality among the Saginaw River tributaries." This is where the breakdown began. But Mayor Walling pulled that switch April 25, 2014 with his unfortunate celebratory statement of, "Water is an absolute vital service that most everyone takes for granted. It's a historic moment for the city of Flint to return to its roots and use our own river as our drinking water supply". This was a disaster just waiting to happen after Detroit refused to continue to supply. I'm having trouble with Mayor Walling going from rah rah Flint River to FaceBook pages making demands of the state. Certainly the emergency manager had a role (who to my understanding is a liberal for all you republican haters out there), along with the other elected officials of Flint, to take affective actions once the problems were noted. I don't claim to have read all the email, but it does seem like every got mired up in 'the bureaucratic processes' to evaluate and test rather than doing the right thing! So next time someone says all we need is another federal law... does it really help the matter of just create spin and meaningless effort and expense.
charley_gr29
To me this has nothing to do with political party, but its a larger cultural problem that is apparent in anyone in big business as well. Its the complete lack of people wanting to take responsibility for an issue, step up, tell the truth and implement a plan. Instead...its a blame game (who's responsible for the issue) and then an avoidance to take any responsibility. If someone in charge would have said, damn it we have an issue and let's fix it, this wouldn't have dragged out so long. And let's also realize that it does have something to do with the fact that Flint's constituents are poor. I guarantee you if this would have happened in one of the richer neighborhoods of Detroit, this would have been fixed long ago.
cr1062
Not for nothing but- you would think that Michigan being surrounded by
the amount of fresh water that it is, and having one of the greatest
economical generators of wealth from the Auto Industry-Would have the
jurist prudence to have changed out its lead pipes dating back to the
mid to late 1800's in favor for the water pipe systems that the rest of
the country has changed to. The Northeast having the oldest water line
infrastructure did this with federal grants, and was used to do just
that- the sad part is that they won't take out the lead pipes and will
instead pump chemicals into the water system to eleviate the problem and
minimize the health concern to a lower exposure.?? Nobody gives a Shet -
W.Va and the Tenn valley Aquafers are still saturated in Chemicals from
train wrecks that have quadrupled the death rate beyond any coal mine
and it's been left that way since! Alabama, New Mexico, Colorado, and AZ
are in the same boat with Leaking underground nuke waste storage dumps-
best thing to do to save your children's learning capacity now is to
PacK up and MOVE AWAY.
DIREINDEED
I've been reading a lot of articles from various sources of who did what when and who's "supposedly" responsible for this mess; however, there is one huge question that I have. Why, in the midst of all of this going on for so long, did someone in a position of authority not stand up and say STOP USING THE WATER! The mayor of Flint-either former or current, the City of Flint Water Department, a municipal department head, a school administrator, the city council, a parent. I find it difficult to believe that with all the civil communication/warning methodology out there, hell, we even get automated phone calls when it's going to snow more than six inches, that nobody took it upon themselves to notify any and all that may be or were affected by this debacle. You have a problem, something has gone horribly wrong, then stand up and make a call even if you err on the side of caution. Contact the local television broadcasting station, call some reporters, contact a newspaper, drive down the street with a bullhorn if you have to, DO SOMETHING. That's what I have a hard time comprehending here, that nobody came out and told people to STOP USING THE WATER FOR ANYTHING-DON'T DRINK IT, DON'T COOK WITH IT, DON'T BATHE/SHOWER WITH IT, DON'T GIVE IT TO YOUR PETS, DON'T WATER YOUR LAWN OR GARDENS, ETC. Is that really too much to ask? The media issues boil alerts all the time, what really happened here?
richer
All these water utilities are the same. California is now radioactive land according to UC Berkeley research thanks to the Japanese reactor that blew.
Here's what i get when i questioned the water utilities. It's turns out our secretary of state Hilary signed a agreement not to blow the whistle on Japan's reactor fallout. Filter your water folks.
Hi Richard,
Radioactive cesium is not a contaminant we monitor in our source water. There is no drinking water standard adopted by the State and federal EPA, and our laboratory is not certified to perform cesium analysis.
Please let us know if you have additional questions.
Have a good evening.
Benito Capuyan
Communications and Public Outreach
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
DaveDFW
The release also details events preceding the resignation of DEQ Director Dan Wyant late last month. An Oct. 18 email shows Wyant preparing to respond to questions submitted by The News that raised questions about the state’s actions and public comments. In that email, he admits to Snyder that the DEQ mistakenly failed to apply the correct EPA standards to protecting Flint’s water system.
“Attached is our response to the Detroit News for a story that they are preparing for tomorrow,” Wyant wrote. “Part of that story looks at whether the DEQ staff followed appropriate federal protocols in light of Flint’s population size. My responses, enclosed here, are an effort to acknowledge something that has come out in the past week through internal review... I believe now we made a mistake.”
On Wednesday, Snyder clarified he would only release emails he wrote or received related to Flint over the past two years, but not those his staff authored or received. The Legislature also is exempt from FOIA.
During an interview with Scott Pelley for the “CBS Evening News” that aired Wednesday evening, Snyder again took responsibility for the water crisis and said the state DEQ did not use enough common sense.
“They were too technical,” Snyder said. “They followed literally the rules. They didn’t use enough common sense to say in situation like this there should be more measures. There should be more concern. And it has led to this terrible tragedy that I’m sorry for, but I’m going to fix. I have to take responsibility for the state’s role in this. These folks work for me. That was a failure.”
Jack
It's not how long the finger pointing will go on but recognize outside of Flint it stops soon, or won't be heard. The problem however faced by Flint is that of other smaller American cities. Simply put Tier 3 cities and smaller are tasked with operational costs for municipal employees which attempt to be on par, or close to that of large cities. NYC has a snow budget of $77.5 million dollars for employees overtime. Smaller cities have many citizens in need of work, willing to work, who are capable of performing municipal services and willing to do so for far less money than the cities currently pay. It's Pensions, Healthcare, Benefits packages, Overtime fees, Paid Leave all of which the cities (and many businesses) struggle with. There's an answer but the can will be kicked down the road by politicians afraid to face reality. I think the first city which clears that hurdle has a rush of companies opening up new jobs.
Stanley
First this should never of happened, and is a sad day in Michigan.
However the cause is deeper than the gov office.
You have a case of two Democrat minority cities that are in deep financial problems due to corruption and mismanagement. Bankrupt.
Detroit looking for cash raised the cost of water sky high.
Flint looking to save cash decided to invest in Port Huron water.
Detroit again raised the rates.
Flint local government decided to use the Flint River in the short term while waiting for completion of Port Huron pipe line. The Flint River has been polluted for years from the auto industry. Why are they not being blamed as well. Wait they still owe the feds money.
Whoops.
Now they are blaming the Republican government.
If the cities would have been managed properly from years ago this would not be an issue.
This all started back in the Coleman Young days in Detroit.
JoeG
This article, much like Scott Pelley on CBS News, completely misses the fact that the EPA knew about this since April 2015 but did not act until November 2015. In fact, the EPA Midwest head (who resigned this morning) had sent numerous e mails to her higher ups asking if they had jurisdiction to act and the "higher ups" did not respond until November. Shocking that the EPA doesn't hesitate to take action on a farmer with a marshy patch on their lawn but in a case where children are being poisoned they take a more conservative approach.
Lisa
This story is a lie and political scam made up by Dems to take heat off Hillary...its an email scandal of their own. The city council voted for this water system... they are just trying to make the GOP look like they are anti-environment and against blacks...its a crock of BS...the entire city council wanted this system...they were almost all black. It was a mistake, and needs to be fixed for sure, but not a criminal act as this story and the coverage of this issue in general would like to suggest. Other areas of our country have HIGHER levels of lead in the water than Flint I bet...
Doug
The root of this problem now sits in Michigan's Prison, and for good reasons...Detroit's own child and elected by the people (as with Flint's) and now (once again) the people get what they have elected....in their City Mayors. Crooks that had gotten away with millions of dollars, with no intention of protecting anyone but themselves!
The Governor does not and shouldn't have to micro-manage city mayors...rather or not he approves them as temporary mayors or not!
The decisions by a State official is generally a mater of routine when asked by a Mayor in doing something...unless State funds are required, in which case the State's Accountants will determine availability FY funding. But they have to assume the mayor has done proper research and investigation prior to requesting funding(?).
Detroit's mayor and gang of #$%$s were stealing the people of Detroit blind, and tried the same between Detroit and Flint. Detroit's mayor and #$%$ partner in crime contracted for millions of dollars in illegal bidding...relating to water pipes and construction...and tried to pass it off to the people of Flint...one of the reason Flint's mayor was replaced (getting a piece of the #$%$ pie).
The river thing was to be temporary until construction was completed to pipe water from one of Michigan's lakes...Because Detroit's Mayor Kilpatrick was sucking the well dry...ripping off!
Michael
Obama socialism works until you run out of other people’s money. And that’s when the death panels kick in. It’s when your electricity stops being reliable, the cops don’t show up when called and your water stops being clean. There’s no way to escape these simple economic facts of life. Democrats turned Flint into a deadbeat city. A deadbeat city with high crime, high rates of structure fires, lots of potholes and failing services. Flint, Detroit, Newark, Oakland, Chicago and a hundred other failed and failing Democrat cities are their handiwork. And as long as their residents continue voting for the Democrat party that made this mess, their lives and their services will only get worse. Flint’s dirty water originated with its dirty Democratic Party overlords. Blaming Republicans won’t clean it up.
william b
So when do "We the people" say enough with our screwed up government? I'm not only talking what is happening in Flint but across America. We are the laughing stock of the entire world with how we let government officials feed us this never ending trail of #$%$ because they know full well the American people will huff and puff and then just go it's ok. People died in Flint and kids will grow up with defects from the irresponsible deceptive ongoing in that government. It is called the shell game, and "We the people" are the very easy targets. Innocent people have died from that government and those officials (all of them) need to be held accountable just like they (the government ) holds us accountable. But it seems they can just snap a finger and "We the people" are jailed for lesser crimes while they just step down and then are given all their pensions and benefits for doing a horrible job. We want our America back
Paul
The federal government was aware of this problem at the earliest April 2015. They wanted the MI DEQ to make changes I believe with a pipe lining system. The DEQ balked and the Federal department instead of going public or pushing the issue turned to the courts for a ruling on whether they could force the DEQ to comply. My point is this is a failure of government at all levels, not just state and local.
David
We spend hundreds of billions to invade and then rebuild other countries, but we balk at paying for much needed infrastructure maintenance whether through taxes or higher utility rates. Billions for nation building overseas but what does an old American rust belt city get but indifference and contempt?
We as an electorate have allowed our leaders to squander this nation's blood and treasure. For years we've let them use relentless fear mongering to convince us that we must be the world's policeman and outspend every other nation on earth on weapons and military occupations to "protect our way of life". Well now the chickens are coming home to roost. Thanks to their strategy of "divide and conquer " we don't even have the collective will to protect kids from bad drinking water. Don't fool yourselves, this isn't just about Flint. Something like this could happen to a lot of other American cities.
I wonder who will write, "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire"?
Robert
Honestly, the governor is NOT making day to day decisions. Sound like his long term goal is flaw. BUT The flint water district, or city officials, ARE RESPONSIBLE to make sure the water is safe.
ANY WATER DISTRICT #1 mission is to supply safe drinking water. Water suppliers suppose to test many times a day the quality. IF THEY SUSPECT problem, all water districts ARE AUTHORIZED to shutdown intakes or outtake valves. IF THE RIVER WAS a problem from day one, ANY the pre cutover quality tests (BY water district or EPA)should had prevented it.
Charles
In retrospect, the problem was initially due to the City of Flint's decision two years ago to not continue to buy Detroit water while they waited for the KWA project to be completed. Flint requested that the State (Treasurer) approve their intent to switch to Flint River water. Flint did this knowing that they did not have a water treatment system that was adequate to treat Flint River water; over compensated with chlorination causing elevated levels of TTHM; and could or didn't try to control pH levels of the water. This eventually lead to finger pointing between state DEQ, EPA, Detroit water and sewage district, and the City of Flint, all while nothing was done. So go figure who was really at blame; a lot of fingers in the pie.
adam
So years of Democratic controlled city governments drop the ball and the sitting Governor is to blame? Detroit(Democrats) were charging too much, Flint(Democrats) balked at the high cost of water and decided to switch. EPA screws the pooch and now Snyder is the bad guy? Seems to me when a Federal Department makes a mistake, the burden must fall on the Federal Government? I'm all for hating on politicians, but in this case, I think every level needs to accept responsibility, including the Liberal side. I hope many see this as the future as I'm quite certain these problems will find a city near you. The infrastructure of the Nation is crumbling, and we'll have to decide between welfare handouts to both people and business or safe water.
Doug
Sadly, Democrats transformed the EPA from protecting us from dangerous toxic pollution into attacking harmless CO2 emissions. the EPA knew about the toxic lead in Flint's drinking water but EPA MANAGEMENT DIRECTED THE REPORT BE SUPPRESSED. This is the same EPA that allowed and mishandled the toxic spill that destroyed a river with lead arsenic cyanide toxins out west across state borders. The head of EPA was selected because she pushed for CO2 emission fees, not because she would keep us safe. The results speak for themselves ... The EPA deliberately hid Flint's toxic lead water supply. What kind of EPA would hide the worst toxic poisoning in the history of America?
Dutchman
A simple question remains: Why didn't the state of Michigan and the city of Flint test the water before and after it made the switch? Proper testing beforehand would have stopped the idea before implemented and proper testing after the fact would have stopped the poisoning of innocent children. It would have been so much more cost-effective to deal with this problem in the proper manner instead of having to deal with the litany of lawsuits that are sure to follow.
Bengt
Who are the government bureaucrats that didn't know to add the proper chemicals and/or filter the water supply when switching sources? We pay government bureaucrats big money and they decide our fate. These bureaucrats get paid 20 to 50% above private industry plus a health and retirement package that make their total income 2 to 3 times the private industry. The few people (1 to 3 individuals) that were actually responsible for implement the change are responsible. Not a whole chain of people.
Everybody knows that you don't walk up to any puddle of water and start drinking especially down river from other humans. Even in the High Sierra's have contaminated water it is prudent to micro-filter the water.
The head of the water resource agency supplying the water is responsible for know how to run a water treatment facility. The head should have provided a report on the impact of switching the water source. If the report was not produce or not adequate then fry the person. If the report was ignored, find the person that commanded the change and fry that person. If there is confusion about who issued the 'do it' command then there is mismanagement - go to the top and prosecute.
tailspinnner
We have a 20 TRILLION dollar national debt on top on the TRILLIONS the federal government confiscates every single year, on top of all the state and local taxes. Where did all that money go?
Sliverpaws
My question is: Why aren't the people who are responsible for the ground contamination in the first place being blamed, General Motors!!!!Hey Media sensationalists why aren't you going after GM, AC Delco, Delphi and the likes of these people. Its not about race its about the ground water contamination. If it were simply the infrastructure, the sickening Detroit water would have caused the same lead poisoning.GM only pulled out of that area 5 or 6 years ago. Did everyone forget! Yes, the mayor let it go, the EPA let it go, the Governor let it go and GM ruined it in the first place. I cannot believe the lack of integrity of the human race of today!
Kevin
When we watch commercials begging for financial help in what are considered 3rd world nations, we are told. Just $1 a day can bring food and clean drinking water to a family. Perhaps now we can start airing those commercials for ourselves because apparently, starting with Flint,MI our politicians are slowly turning us into a 3rd world nation.
DONALD
Typical lying, cheating, thieving, #$%$ politicians. You can bet any money allotted to fix this will mostly be spent on contractors, studies, panel members, and of course the bottled water companies payed to supply the residents while the studies, panel meetings and awarding of contracts drags on.
j s
There was an EPA water inspector of some kind that reviewed the water system and found many flaws in it. This happened way before the water was turned on. The Midwest EPA chief buried that report and wasn't recovered until after the Freedom of Information Act was used to get the chiefs emails. There is a lot more to this story then what the media is reporting.
roger
I don't know a lot about this but several years ago I vaguely remember that Detroit or some city was selling water to Flint and the officials in Flint decided that they could save lots of money by going to another source. This was done to help the people by saving them money. Now, I don't understand why the governor is being blamed for the choices made by the city. The Governor is a Republican but most or all of the locals that made the decisions were Democrats. While, I hope they can work together and solve the problems I see this as political parties attacking each other and no one solving the problem. I don't believe that the Michigan or US taxpayers are responsible for the poor choices made by one city government.
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