Question Of The Day: Flint Water Crisis Opinions

A worker handles meats at Koegel’s facility in Flint Township on January 22, 2016. Residents in the former auto-making hub – a poor, largely minority city – feel their complaints about lead-tainted water flowing through their taps… “[It] says Flint, Michigan 48507”, said John Koegel, the third generation company president.

The federal government is chipping in $80 million to help alleviate some of the acute distress in Flint, but a long term fix – an overhaul of the pipe systems in the city – could cost between $700 million and $1 billion, if the outdated records system is even navigable enough to modify.

Since the EPA is accused of acting too slow in resolving the issue of high lead content in Flint’s water, McCarthy issued an emergency order demanding that the state and its head act to ensure the safety of the public. On Friday, FEMA turned down the state’s appeal. That caused lead to leach into the water for a year and a half and contributed to a spike in child lead poisoning before city and state officials fully acknowledged the problem.

Stay with 6 News for the latest on the Flint water crisis.

State water regulators failed to ensure corrosive water from the Flint River was treated to prevent leaching from lead pipes.

Creagh wrote that state officials don’t know whether it’s legal for the EPA to order MI to take such actions. A report from The Guardian says many USA cities are systemically and purposely downplaying the amounts of lead and copper in municipal water systems.

She says she wants Governor Snyder, the Michigan Department on Environmental Quality, and the EPA to testify.

The panel recommendations included working with the EPA staff on a comprehensive lead-sampling program and seeking help from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in assessing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease and its cause.

“Due to the intense media demand and severity of this issue, we are assisting the Governor’s team so that they are able to dedicate their focus and resources to helping the people of Flint”, Mercury said in an email.

Rick Snyder has hired an out-of-state public relations firm that specializes in crisis management, NBC News reported.

A specialist at the federal Environmental Protection Agency began warning the state last February that its testing was probably understating lead levels in Flint’s water, but state officials dismissed those concerns, and the federal officials declined to go public with them. However, the century-old company has become tied to the Flint water crisis because of its mailing address.

Asked whether the Flint crisis was a case of “environmental racism”, Gov. Rick Snyder replied, “Absolutely not”.

“Some DEQ actions lacked common sense, and that resulted in this bad tragedy in Flint”, Snyder said.