Flint crisis reaches Capitol Hill, and it’s a blame game

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the oversight panel, said EPA should have acted on its own to warn the public about water problems in Flint. “We are not letting this go”.

Gina Balaya, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit, told the Free Pressthat federal prosecutors are “working with a multi-agency investigation team on the Flint water contamination matter, including the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, EPA’s [Environmental Protection Agency] Office of Inspector General, and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division”. Now the Democratic presidential candidates are blaming the governor.

Summary: The people of Flint, Michigan are suing the governor, the city, and the state for their contaminated water. Creagh took over as head of the state agency in January following the resignation of Dan Wyant. Taking responsibility for the issue, changing laws, installing new pipes and providing proper health care for Flint residents are among the steps that she suggested.

US lawmakers criticized environmental officials at a hearing on Wednesday for not acting sooner when they saw a report that drinking water in Flint, Michigan was polluted with dangerously high levels of lead.

Professor Edwards was the most vocal in the accusations of a cover-up, testifying that “the blame lies with these three or four employees who were actively misleading everyone” and that the EPA had been “aiding and abetting” the MDEQ in the cover-up of the Flint water crisis.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it has joined other agencies in investigating the lead contamination to see if any officials should be held criminally culpable. The more corrosive water from the river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did. State delays in responding to the lead crisis “and in informing the public of ongoing health risks raise very serious concerns”, he said.

State officials are not the only ones who made mistakes in Flint, Creagh said.

The initial decision to change Flint’s water source was done to save money while the city was facing an economic troubles.

At the time, Hedman apologized to Flint Mayor Dayne Walling for the leak and said “it would be premature to draw any conclusions based on that draft”.

They said they will invoke committee privileges to demand Mr. Snyder’s testimony as part of a Democrat-sponsored day of hearings on the crisis. As a result, the city may not have enough money in the future to pay for repairing broken water mains and replacing sewer lines. “It’s not the kind of thing we should think of (happening) in America”.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee’s senior Democratic member, speaks forcefully in the video excerpt against the state’s emergency management role in struggling cities.

Bolden said Earley is not in Washington and “travel is impossible” to appear by Wednesday morning.

In a Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016 file photo, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate, at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Snyder has released some, but not all, of his government emails related to Flint¿s water emergency. Gov. Snyder says he wants to help. “We were minimalistic and legalistic in our behavior”, he said.

Snyder appointed Earley to run Flint in 2013. The state was aware of alleged problems with the water as the switch was made, but dispelled them as “myths”.

“I concur with the thought that people should not have to pay for water they couldn’t drink”, Snyder told reporters Wednesday.