While Flint Was Being Poisoned, State Workers “Quietly” Provided Water Coolers

In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 photo, Porshe Loyd feeds her three-week-old son, LeAndrew Loyd with formula mixed with Nursery Water-brand purified water in her living room in Flint, Mich. Cases of bottled water… Several residents say they w…

(Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP).

“Thank you to the Michigan Senate for taking action & for their unanimous support for the people of Flint”.

Next, as if being ignored wasn’t enough to anger Michiganders, next they learned that the whole disaster could have been avoided if city officials were not instructed to stop treating the water with an anti-corrosion chemical that only cost about $100 bucks a day. He also said replacing the toxic pipes responsible for the city’s lead-poisoned tap water was not on his “short-term” agenda.

Schuette’s office will supervise any lawsuits against the state and the governor.

CNN reports that in 2014 auto manufacturer General Motors (GM) stopped using water from Flint because it began to rust vehicle parts.

“We shouldn’t have waited until it got this bad, it should have been solved”, Wiley said. “Mistakes were made…. We’re going to solve them”. But he remains the target of criticism, including longshot efforts to recall him from office.

Emails released by a liberal group critical of Snyder show the state was sending bottled water a year ago to state employees in Flint. Snyder has promised to put forward more funding for Flint in his upcoming annual budget proposal – when he also will detail plans for a one-time $575 million surplus – but has not said how much.

Spokesman Dave Murray said he didn’t know if workers promoted that it was available, but no signs prohibited the public from drinking water from the coolers.

He says the water coolers still are supplied to a state building in Flint. For Flint residents, it all started when, in a cost-cutting move, Flint rerouted its water supply from Detroit’s to that of the Flint River, exposing residents to water contaminated by the city’s corrosive lead pipes.

Tom Gores, a Flint native and owner of the Detroit Pistons, is pledging to raise $10 million to address the short- and long-term needs of his MI hometown, where the drinking water is contaminated with lead.

Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for DTMB, told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday that the department never told state employees the tap water was unsafe to drink but provided an alternative.

The state House and Senate have unanimously approved an emergency spending bill to help Flint address its water crisis.

Democratic House members from MI are also calling for Snyder to appear before Congress.

Within a few weeks of this notice, the state issued a $2 million grant to Flint to help with water system infrastructure improvements.

Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, said what happened in Flint show the philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans. Flints mayor has floated a shockingly high price to fix the citys lead-contamination problem, saying it could millions to replace damaged pipes.