Feds, State Blame Each Other for Flint Water Crisis

The water crisis in Flint came as a result of switching city’s water source from the Detroit water system to the long-polluted and corrosive Flint River in 2014 in a bid to save money by the state.

But Creagh also took a swipe at the feds, complaining that the Environmental Protection Agency “did not display the sense of urgency that the situation demanded”.

While Snyder OK’d $28 million in state funds and there’s a bill before the U.S. Congress to provide much more, Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing was not focused on paying to fix Flint’s water crisis.

So has former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, who is refusing to testify.

The lawsuit urges the city and the state to refund $150 million dollars in water bills paid by affected Flint residents and businesses for the time the city’s water was being extracted from the Flint River, The Baltimore Sun reported. His office estimates the $30 million Consumption and Consumer Use Credit — available because of a one-time $575 million budget surplus — would cover a two-year period from April 2014 until this spring, when officials hope the water supply is declared safe to consume again without filters.

But he didn’t reserve his critiques only for those in federal agencies. His lawyer refused a subpoena issued Tuesday, according to Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.

FBI spokeswoman Jill Washburn told the AP in an email that the agency is “investigating the matter to determine if there have been any federal violations”.

“What happened in Flint was avoidable and never should have happened”, said Joel Beauvais, acting chief of the EPA’s water office.

Flint resident want the murky, lead-contaminated drinking water gone, and the bills too. Also, the FBI has announced it is joining an ongoing investigation to find out if any crimes were committed by MI or local officials in charge of Flint during the crisis.

An independent panel appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has determined that the state Department of Environmental Quality was primarily responsible for the water contamination. Yet officials indicated that nothing was wrong, with Flint Mayor Dayne Walling even drinking his city’s tap water on local TV to try to calm early concerns. But officials remain concerned that old pipes could continue to leach lead, to which exposure can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults.