MI lawmakers approve $28 million more for Flint

He obtained emails through a Freedom of Information request that reveal the EPA ignored – or, as Edwards said, buried – information from one of its own water experts showing Flint water was “a major concern” for public health.

Gov. Rick Snyder told a radio show he hopes city residents will have safe water in 2-3 months, but his staff said there is still no timetable on restoring Flint’s drinking water. The funding was part of a multi-point relief package the governor outlined last week during his state of the state address to the Michigan Legislature.

Flint residents are now unable to drink unfiltered tap water, and tests have shown high lead levels in some children’s blood. Rick Snyder was wrong to thwart democracy and install emergency managers in cities like Flint, and it’s time for him to be held responsible.

-Flint’s water became contaminated when the city switched from the Detroit’s municipal system and began drawing water from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. He spent his Friday morning at Southfield City Hall where he was carting in cases of bottled water.

The Michigan senators and other Democrats offered the measure Thursday as an amendment to a bipartisan Senate energy bill.

Snyder said at the beginning of Thursday’s meeting it’s important for officials to engage with residents as much as possible.

“The bottom line is that these pipes need to be fixed or replaced”, said Stabenow, calling the proposal “an appropriate response from the federal government” to the crisis. She said people with levels over 150 ppb were being notified and their water being retested.

The package will allocate funding to supply free bottles of water, faucet filters and testing kits for Flint residents; replace fixtures in schools; treat affected children and help relieve residents of water bill payments.

The Michigan Senate has unanimously approved $28 million in additional funding to address the lead contamination of Flint’s water.

Snyder told WWJ-AM he had “no knowledge of that taking place”.

“This is a new culture”, said Arnold Brown, the city’s operations supervisor who’s supported the city’s waste removal operations for 20 years.

The state’s latest feeble attempt at aninvestigation into the Flint water crisis has us questioning whether Attorney General Bill Schuette is on duty for the people of MI, or for his political allies.

The Democratic legislation would provide $400 million to help pay for the replacement of the contaminated pipes but requires the state do a dollar for dollar match, which would cover the cost of the project, according to preliminary estimates from the state.

“The American people deserve a full accounting of this man-made disaster”, Lawrence said.

Included in the email thread found by Progressive Michigan is a message from district engineer with Detroit’s Department of Environmental Quality to Stephen Busch, the district supervisor, acknowledging regulator’s water quality concerns.