The Gov. Snyder releases emails on Flint water

According to The Guardian, 350 protesters staged a demonstration at the State Capitol calling for Snyder’s head on Tuesday.

Among the decisions those emergency managers made was one to temporarily change the city’s drinking water source from Lake Huron water supplied by the city of Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014.

Flint resident Ollie Peterson, 87, strokes her chin while listening to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder deliver his State of the State address on television on January 19 at home in Flint.

State lawmakers moved quickly Wednesday on Gov. Rick Snyder’s request for a $28.-million supplemental appropriation to assist Flint in its drinking water crisis. President Obama already declared Flint a federal emergency area, but Snyder is going to appeal Obama’s refusal to consider Flint a federal disaster area (which would open up public funds normally reserved for national disasters). Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year.

It’s a classic case of government dropping the ball at all levels – from city to state to federal officials – said Steve Mitchell, a Republican political consultant and pollster in MI.

Snyder said his office would make his emails in 2014 and 2015 available to ensure that city residents have answers about “what we’ve done”. Snyder said the disaster will lead to years, potentially decades of health problems and economic losses as well as infrastructure repairs that “neither the city, county or state have the capacity to conduct”.

INSKEEP:…Just to be clear because you listened to the full apology – you listened to the full speech – there’s so many ways to say I’m sorry.

“You know, you need to care before”, she added. “I’m sorry most of all that I let you down”. High lead levels were found in blood tests of children and others in Flint and some residents reported extremely high lead levels, even as the DEQ said the water was safe. The National Guard, state employees, local authorities and volunteers have been distributing lead tests, filters and bottled water.

“We have a responsibility to all citizens of this state, to give them access to clean water”.

“It’s too little, too late”, Cher said on MSNBC’s “Live with Tamron Hall“.

Weaver refused to join those calls, saying she is staying focused on what she can get from the governor to resolve the crisis.

The funding, which follows the Legislature’s $9 million allocation toward the crisis in the fall, would pay for more bottled water, filters, health treatment, water testing and help the city offset unpaid water bills.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the bipartisan bill, which is created to help schools that have complained that the Obama administration’s healthier school meal rules are too restrictive. But he’s also spreading the blame, saying every level of government – local, state, federal – has failed Flint.

Meanwhile, the corrosive water from the Flint River apparently caused lead to begin leaching from old service pipes throughout the city.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who attended the address, said Snyder’s contrition “does not mitigate the crime that has been committed”. A class-action lawsuit has been filed that alleges the state Department of Environmental Quality didn’t treat the water for corrosion in accordance with federal law.

Associated Press writer Jesse Holland contributed from Washington.