Darnell Earley could answer Flint water questions

State and federal environmental official were questioned at length about their agencies’ response efforts.

In a March 2015 email obtained by the liberal watchdog group Progress Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s spokesman told Snyder aide Harvey Hollins that more than 40 cases of Legionnaires’ had been reported since the previous April, when Snyder’s administration oversaw Flint’s switch to the Flint River as its water source.

Residents from Flint, Michigan, could recieve compensation from the government after their water supply became contaminated with lead.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit said in January that it was investigating the water crisis with the EPA.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor who helped expose the lead problem in September, said: “It’s hard to find moral justification in having (residents) pay for water that is not suitable for consumption nor, until recently, for bathing.

We know what happened here”, Fieger said in a statement.

Lawyers for the official, Darnell Early, have said that he didn’t get the subpoena from the committee in time to travel to Washington, and that he was too busy dealing with another crisis: deteriorating conditions in Detroit public schools.

“This is a failing at every level”, said U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), opening the hearings in Washington.

The Democratic proposal also requires federal action if a state refuses to warn the public about unsafe water and authorizes $200 million over 10 years to monitor lead exposure in Flint.

“Participation in this committee is not optional”, Chaffetz said.

State officials testifying before the committee admitted more should have been done.

A $100 million lawsuit has been filed against McLaren Flint hospital and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on behalf of four patients who allegedly contracted Legionnaires’ disease while being treated at the hospital.

Widespread lead contamination in Flint first came to light last year, within one year after the city detached itself from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) in 2014.

The crisis has taken on partisan overtones, as Democrats blame the Republican governor and some Republicans target the EPA for failing to intervene sooner.

“We are missing the most critical witness of all”, said ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), referring to Snyder and presenting Chaffetz with a letter from committee Democrats demanding he organize another hearing featuring the governor and former Flint emergency managers. The state has allocated almost $39 million in the current budget year to address Flint’s crisis.

Creagh says city officials did not follow proper protocol in conducting lead sampling of homes, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “did not display the sense of urgency that the situation demanded”.

Democrats had proposed a $600 million package, but Stabenow said they had a agreed to less than half of what they had originally asked for. “We’re not going to let procedural issues get in the way”.