Flint mayor meets with Obama to address water crisis

“I’m sorry most of all that I let you down”, Snyder, whose administration is engulfed in criticism, said in address, as hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the Capitol.

An attorney representing Flint residents who are suing MI officials over what his legal team calls the city’s “lousy, no-good water” has a message for state officials targeted in the lawsuits: “Don’t fight it”. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now has the authority to provide up to $5 million in federal aid for residents for the next 90 days.

Snyder devoted much of his 49-minute evening address to the GOP-led Legislature to the disaster, which has put residents at risk for lead exposure.

Snyder dovetailed that discussion with comments on their ongoing efforts to improve the infrastructure in the state, including the plumbing in urban areas.

He also issued a heartfelt apology: “You deserve better”. I want to tell you that you are not alone.

“The governor has a business agenda and his business agenda was to take over the water to profit in it”, said Lila Cabbil, a member of the People’s Water Board coalition in Detroit.

On Saturday, President Obama declared the Flint crisis a federal emergency but denied Snyder’s request to declare it a major disaster, which would open up more funding for the city. He plans to make a bigger request in his February budget proposal.

In April 2014 the state chose to temporarily switch Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure until a new supply line to Lake Huron was ready.

“And what that did was it caused lead in some water pipes leading into homes to leach into the water”. But tests later showed high levels of lead in the blood of some local children.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday at a campaign stop in Center Barnstead, New Hampshire, Cruz says the children of the city “have been poisoned by government officials” through “negligence” and “ineptitude”. Independent researchers who raised red flags about the water and said it contained unsafe levels of lead were initially ignored by the state.

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”.

“It is truly a humbling experience to see the people you work for and care for, harmed by the people that work for you”. He says the State House this Wednesday will begin discussing a 28 million dollar bill to help keep the city’s residents safe.

Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson slammed the toxic water contamination in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday as a crime against humanity.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it acted too slowly to address the situation in Flint.

Snyder then moved on to talk about the financial problems in Detroit Public Schools, saying that in order to fix the problems we need to look no further than the success the city of Detroit has had in coming out of Bankruptcy.

Below, watch the portion of the governor’s address dealing with the Flint water crisis.

Gov. Rick Snyder, looking at time as if he were about to cry, began his State of the State speech addressing the Flint water crisis, vowing to resolve the issue.

“He’s not going to be anyone that anybody trusts”, Hier said.