Snyder declares emergency for Genesee County due to…

Rick Snyder has declared a state of emergency in Flint over problems with lead in the city’s drinking water as federal officials confirm they’re investigating the matter.

That declaration makes available all state resources to cooperate with local operations.

The investigation by the USA attorney’s office comes more than a year after the city of more than 100,000 people began getting water from the Flint River instead of from Lake Huron via Detroit’s water system.

The tweets came after Snyder declared a state of emergency for Flint on Tuesday because of the city’s water issues.

The city has since resumed taking its water from Detroit.

Last week, Mr Snyder apologised and Michigan’s top environmental regulator resigned after a task force set up by the governor blamed the problems on his agency. In 2014, Flint changed its water source from Detroit’s mess of a water system to the nearby Flint River to save money. The declaration authorizes the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (MSP/EMHSD) to coordinate state efforts.

The governor has appointed an independent panel to review local, state and federal actions related to the drinking water situation and is working with city and county leaders, he said.

Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities and at high levels can lead to seizures and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After prompting from the MI chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and on the same day as Snyder announced the state of emergency, the Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into what went wrong, according to the Huffington Post.

“I want the Flint community to know how very sorry I am that this has happened”, he said in a statement.

Much of the blame for the water crisis has been placed on Snyder’s Department of Environmental Quality. “There was a dark cloud hanging over this city”, said Flint City Council President Kerry Nelson, “but now I can see beams of light busting through now”.