Flint City Officials Ask Congress for $55 Million to Replace Pipes

During a press conference on Tuesday, Karen Weaver, the mayor of Flint, announced that a $55 million pipe replacement program is scheduled to begin this month.

The Republican governor, who has apologized for his administration’s role in the lead contamination of Flint’s water supply, proposed $195 million more to address the crisis, on top of $37 million previously approved. They’re upset with how the governor handled the Flint Water Crisis. The hearing examined the state of the water crisis in Flint and heard testimony from public health experts alongside Mayor Weaver. He said the state must assume every child in the city has been exposed to lead. “I implore you on behalf of the citizens of Flint to help us restore our city and rebuild trust and confidence in our government”.

“At the very least we need methodical removal of all lead service lines and funding to removal of these lines has to become a national priority …” During Snyder’s budget proposal, he said he can fast track $25 million to that endeavor immediately.

The plans will be detailed in the Republican governor’s annual $54.9 billion budget presentation to the GOP-led Legislature on Wednesday. He said that’s not a lot of money, but it’s a start toward solving the state’s infrastructure shortcomings like the Flint water system. She said the US Environmental Protection Agency’s lead and copper regulations for drinking water were outdated and underfunded.

“We are Flintstones”, she says, referring to the nickname for Flint natives, “and we are a strong group, a talented group of people from this area, from Genesee County”. Weaver and a number of other Flint authorities testified in Washington, D.C. the next day before the House Democratic Steering and Policy committee, led by Representative Nancy Pelosi.

Flint’s water troubles, concerns about other aging water infrastructure and the Detroit school’s district dire financial outlook – it needs a $720 million infusion of cash over a decade to avoid bankruptcy, according to Snyder aides – overshadowed a one-time budget surplus and more nuts-and-bolts budget details this year, such as funding for education, municipalities and workforce development. Others say that this is not the kind of damage where the problem is fixed once the pipes are replaced. “It’s an opportunity to help people, and we want to help people”, he said.

Even when told in early 2015 that Flint was required to have corrosion control, DEQ officials maintained that their reading of federal regulations was that those treatments weren’t required until two rounds of tests were conducted over the course of a year, a stance the state later acknowledged was a mistake.