Cummings says Mich. Gov. Snyder is ‘hunkering down’ on Flint water crisis

Officials from the embattled city of Flint, Michigan, testified to Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday to reiterate their call for urgent upgrades to the midwestern city’s basic services. Will he be accountable?

“When you talk about lead, this is a decade-long, multi-generational problem and we need that long-term investment and we need it now”, said Hanna-Attisha, echoing remarks she made at Wednesday’s House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee meeting. Snyder also plans to call for $165 million in funding for infrastructure needs across MI in the 2016-17 budget.

Hanna-Attisha said Clinton asked about what lead does and how problems that arise from the substance can be handled by medical professionals, and gathering the necessary resources such as foundation support to combat the effects. Instead, he said, “As soon as the water samples were tested and the results verified, Snyder announced the results at a press conference in Flint on October 8”.

But Governor Snyder said fixing all the pipes would not be “the best approach to start with”, pointing to recommendations by “hero” Dr Marc Edwards at Virginia Tech university who is leading the research team to solve the water crisis.

Today, House Democrats in Washington will hold a hearing on the ongoing water crisis in Flint.

“If there was any question as to whether the Snyder administration was more concerned about their public image or public health, this should provide a definitive answer”, said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Lansing-based watchdog group Progress Michigan, in response to the new reporting.

According to Todd Flood, the emergency legal counsel now heading the investigation of the Flint water department’s role in lying about the safety of its drinking water, city employees could potentially be looking at manslaughter charges.

State Rep. Sheldon Neeley, D-Flint, said in an interview that residents were fearful of the water coming out of their taps and “growing worn out waiting on the next step of relief”. For many households already using filters, they now must boil the water says Newser. That and other measures languished as Democrats and Republicans struggled to agree on where the funds would come from.

Officials have acknowledged the failure to control corrosion after Flint switched sources and began drawing water from the river in 2014 was a mistake that let lead leach from pipes into water that reached some homes.

Kerr says water accounted for the increase, with about 1.4 million pounds of water distributed at 140 sites last month.

“We are Flintstones”, she says, referring to the nickname for Flint natives, “and we are a strong group, a talented group of people from this area, from Genesee County”.

An email written by a former Flint official says anti-corrosive treatments weren’t added to the Flint River water because of concerns about bacteria. “It’s an opportunity to help people, and we want to help people”, he said.