House panel calls governor, EPA chief to testify on Flint

During a meeting with leading House Democrats, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Assistant Secretary Dr. Nicole Lurie and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy told lawmakers they anticipate being able to offer health care coverage to some individuals who may have consumed contaminated water in Flint.

Thomas Poy, the ground and drinking water branch chief of EPA Region 5, told those on the March phone call that “the state is now figuring out a communication-with-the-public plan”, according to notes from Jennifer Crooks, the EPA’s MI drinking water program manager. No date for the hearing has been set, but a committee spokeswoman said the session is likely next month.

Snyder called in the country’s national guard to help provide potable water for the city’s households after declaring a state of emergency over the crisis.

Some of the questions Snyder could face in his eventual congressional testimony may be prompted by the emails released on Friday, which were written both before and after water issue became a crisis by the employees of six state departments responsible for handling the problem. But EPA leaders still allowed the contaminated water to be used by city residents until January 2016, after news reports that a local pediatrician and Virginia Tech University researchers concluded toxic water was creating a public health crisis, especially for Flint’s youngest children.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s office, accused by critics of mishandling and downplaying the crisis for months, released about 20,000 related emails and records Friday in response to open-records requests.

Even after Flint went back to using Lake Huron as its source for drinking water, the city found in December that water lead levels were still “well above” the acceptable federal level in many homes.

Members of Congress have repeatedly asked for Snyder to be present. In fact, most of the information obtained about the Flint water crisis has been from grassroots advocacy instead of government action. Keith Creagh, interim director of the Department of Environmental Quality, represented the state at the hearing of the full committee. Students from the area seem to agree, noting that city and state officials were too concerned about saving money, at the expense of the citizens they are meant to serve.

Oxford city officials emphasize the fact that groundwater, suchs as the wells in Oxford or the river in Flint, must be carefully treated through a natural process, which can take up to five years, and a chemical process to ensure that the water is safe for the public.

Representative Dan Kildee, D-Mich., stated that the notification bill would not have prevented the crisis in his hometown.