Governor, Flint mayor meet to discuss water crisis

Rick Snyder said they had a positive and constructive meeting in Lansing Thursday morning and pledged to work together to resolve the city’s drinking water crisis as Weaver said estimates of the cost to fix the city’s lead-damaged infrastructure range as high as $1.5 billion.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s office in Detroit is investigating the contamination of Flint’s water in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Snyder has declared an emergency in Flint to deal with the crisis. As Moore noted, “To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat”.

But in February 2015, tests showed alarming levels of lead in homes; the Snyder administration is accused of assuring the public everything is fine.

“Governor Snyder has said consistently that the independent, bipartisan task force will review all of the city, state and federal government actions and will recommend changes looking forward that can address potential challenges in Flint and other cities”, Murray said in an email.

The governor says there is plenty to do to protect the residents of Flint, many of whom have been exposed to lead in the water.

Dave Murray, the governor’s press secretary, said Muchmore had been meeting with Flint community leaders throughout the year and was following through on community concerns.

Flint switched its drinking water source from the Detroit system to the Flint River in April 2014 to save money while the cash-strapped city was led by an emergency manager appointed by the Republican governor. In a state of emergency declaration, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver indicated that more funding will be needed for special education services because lead “can cause effects to a child’s IQ, which will result in learning disabilities”. That move damaged pipes and caused lead to leach into the water.

“By declaring a state of emergency, Snyder has made available all state resources in cooperation with local response and recovery operations”, the news release said.

Back in July, Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore tells a top Health Department official that he’s frustrated, saying quote: “I really don’t think people are getting the benefit of the doubt”.

A state investigation found the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality was largely to blame.

“More testing, more filters”, Snyder said.

However, Snyder and Weaver both sidestepped a question about whether anyone’s health is at risk from the water today. “And I want all MI citizens to know that we will learn from this experience, because Flint is not the only city with an aging infrastructure”.

Ideally, this is where the state or federal government would step in, making sure that pain is spread around equitably – particularly to bondholders, who probably knew exactly who they were lending to – and the city doesn’t get stuck in legal limbo for years on end. The governor says it’s part of an effort to work more closely with the city to tackle the problem.