Senate Dems block energy bill in impasse over Flint

Miguel Del Toral, an Environmental Protection Agency official, and Susan Hedman, the former regional head of the EPA who resigned amid the water crisis.

Lawyers for the official, Darnell Early, have said that he didn’t get the subpoena from the committee in time to travel to Washington, and that he was too busy dealing with another crisis: deteriorating conditions in Detroit public schools.

In his opening remarks, committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced several documents suggesting that EPA officials had not acted quickly enough in Flint in the face of numerous warnings, some of them from inside the agency.

Flint switched its water source from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River in 2014 to save money while under state financial management.

The Detroit Water and Sewage Department talked about the problems of the Flint Water Department with respect to cleanliness, elimination of contaminants, mercury and lead levels, Kilpatrick said.

In November, the EPA announced it was auditing how MI enforces drinking water rules and said it would identify how to strengthen state oversight.

But the state Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) – which has taken the brunt of the blame for not requiring Flint to have corrosion control which could have kept lead from leaching from old service pipes – has pointed a finger of blame back at EPA as well, saying the agency kept the state waiting months for a legal opinion about whether such corrosion control was required. The state has allocated almost $39 million in the current budget year to address Flint’s crisis.

Flint residents and advocates have also called for Snyder to resign over the crisis, but the governor has refused.

Earley was emergency manager in Flint when that city switched its water supply to the Flint River in 2014.

The hearing sought to find a culprit for the individual and systemic failures that resulted in residents consuming lead-tainted water for over a year.

An estimated 21,000 residential customers have continued paying their bills despite various water problems, while 9,000 have not, according to the Snyder administration.

“We’re calling on the U.S. Marshals to hunt (Earley) down and give him that subpoena”, the Utah Republican said. The lifelong Flint, Michigan, resident doesn’t have a TV, and because of health issues she doesn’t spend a lot of time out and about in the city. Additionally, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Edwards to the Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee.

He described the situation in Flint – the misguided switch, the sloppy testing, the slow government response – as “part 1984” and part “Enemy of the State”.

U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) along with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), proposed legislation in Congress last week to appropriate $400 million in federal funding to resolve the crisis in Flint, along with $200 million to assist existing health issues of children and adults that have been exposed to lead.

In remarks on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of abandoning the people of the city. Snyder wasn’t even invited to appear-an oversight that rankled Democrats on the committee, as well as Flint residents like Brewer who’d made the trip themselves. Democrats in the Senate threatened to block a bipartisan energy bill if it fails to include immediate aid for Flint.