Flint Meme

[CrusaderFrank]

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - sue the bastids...

Michigan state officials accountable in Flint water crisis: inquiry
Wed Mar 23, 2016 - A task force appointed by Michigan’s governor said on Wednesday state officials showed stubbornness, lack of preparation, delay and inaction in failing to prevent a health crisis in the city of Flint caused by lead contamination in the drinking water.

There were failures on all levels of government, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a report from the task force said. However, the report highlighted failures of state agencies, especially the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), and said the state was "fundamentally accountable" for what happened. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been criticized for the state's poor handling of a crisis that garnered national headlines. "It was a mixture of ignorance, incompetence and arrogance by many decision makers that created the toxic and tragic situation," Chris Kolb, task force co-chair and president of the Michigan Environmental Council, a coalition of non-profit groups, said at a press conference in Flint.(here)

The 116-page report included 36 findings and 44 recommendations to be taken so the state can avoid a similar crisis in the future, including fixing the state emergency manager law to compensate for the loss of local government control. Under the direction of a state-appointed emergency manager, Flint switched water supplies to the Flint River from Detroit's system in 2014 to save money. The corrosive river water leached lead, a toxic substance that can damage the nervous system, from the city's water pipes. Flint switched back to the Detroit system last October.

The task force said MDEQ should receive primary blame for the crisis, citing its failure to use corrosion control chemicals in Flint's water system to prevent the lead leaching, and then resisting calls from others to take action after the lead poisoning was discovered. "They missed the boat completely," Kolb said. Michigan this week outlined a plan involving several state agencies to help the city recover from the crisis. It included programs to address water infrastructure shortcomings and the health of children who have tested for high lead levels in their blood, expand support in Flint schools and boost economic development for the city.

The crisis has led to calls for Snyder to resign. Last week, several Democratic lawmakers criticized Snyder at a hearing about Flint, a working class, mostly African American city of 100,000 northwest of Detroit. The crisis has led to several lawsuits in state and federal courts, and federal and state investigations. “This report is a damning indictment of Governor Snyder’s philosophy of running government like a business," U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, said after the report was released. Snyder said many of the task force recommendations were already being implemented by the state. "This is a problem that I've made a commitment to fix," he said.

Michigan state officials accountable in Flint water crisis: inquiry

 

[sonic]

LMAO. The city council? I've seen some reaches, but this is hilarious. Pathetic, but hilarious.

 

[waltky]

Next step - proposing recommendations...

Michigan Lawmakers Wrap Up Flint Water Hearings
May 10, 2016 — Michigan lawmakers reviewing the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water supply will turn to proposing recommendations, including changes to the Midwestern U.S. state's contentious emergency manager law, after two months of investigative hearings concluded Tuesday.

The Republican chairman of a special legislative committee said it likely would urge revisions to the law, though he declined to elaborate. The committee wrapped up without calling Governor Rick Snyder and some other key figures, including Flint's emergency managers, to testify. Senator Jim Stamas of Midland said Michigan and local governments must do better at financing upgrades to aging drinking water and sewer systems across the state. In Flint, the city’s 100,000 residents are using faucet filters and bottled water while living under a months-long emergency. A construction group told the panel Tuesday that the drinking water infrastructure statewide required additional spending of at least $284 million to $563 million a year.

Michigan National Guard specialist Joe Weaver, right, delivers clean water supplies to Louis Singleton and other residents of Flint​

Michigan's 2012 emergency management law, which the GOP-led Legislature quickly approved after voters repealed a 2011 version, lets the state exert near-total control over distressed cities and school districts under certain circumstances. It was blamed as a factor in the Flint crisis by a task force appointed by Snyder, who supports the law but has acknowledged it failed Flint. The contamination occurred when the city, which was under emergency management at the time, switched in 2014 from the metropolitan Detroit utility system to a temporary water source, the Flint River, until it could connect to the new pipeline. State environmental regulators mistakenly told the city not to add a chemical to prevent lead from leaching out of old pipes. State emergency managers later came under scrutiny for blocking a switch back for financial reasons.

Over Democrats' objections, majority Republicans on the committee did not seek testimony from the four emergency managers who led Flint from 2011 to 2015, Snyder or former Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant, who resigned in December. The panel instead entered the testimony that the Republican governor, former emergency manager Darnell Earley and other officials gave before Congress into its record. “We've seen that the investigations are still ongoing for accountability, but with the amount of information this committee has received, I think the Flint residents deserve the opportunity for solutions,” Stamas said.

Michigan Lawmakers Wrap Up Flint Water Hearings

 

[tinydancer]

Next step - proposing recommendations...

Michigan Lawmakers Wrap Up Flint Water Hearings
May 10, 2016 — Michigan lawmakers reviewing the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water supply will turn to proposing recommendations, including changes to the Midwestern U.S. state's contentious emergency manager law, after two months of investigative hearings concluded Tuesday.

The Republican chairman of a special legislative committee said it likely would urge revisions to the law, though he declined to elaborate. The committee wrapped up without calling Governor Rick Snyder and some other key figures, including Flint's emergency managers, to testify. Senator Jim Stamas of Midland said Michigan and local governments must do better at financing upgrades to aging drinking water and sewer systems across the state. In Flint, the city’s 100,000 residents are using faucet filters and bottled water while living under a months-long emergency. A construction group told the panel Tuesday that the drinking water infrastructure statewide required additional spending of at least $284 million to $563 million a year.

Michigan National Guard specialist Joe Weaver, right, delivers clean water supplies to Louis Singleton and other residents of Flint​

Michigan's 2012 emergency management law, which the GOP-led Legislature quickly approved after voters repealed a 2011 version, lets the state exert near-total control over distressed cities and school districts under certain circumstances. It was blamed as a factor in the Flint crisis by a task force appointed by Snyder, who supports the law but has acknowledged it failed Flint. The contamination occurred when the city, which was under emergency management at the time, switched in 2014 from the metropolitan Detroit utility system to a temporary water source, the Flint River, until it could connect to the new pipeline. State environmental regulators mistakenly told the city not to add a chemical to prevent lead from leaching out of old pipes. State emergency managers later came under scrutiny for blocking a switch back for financial reasons.

Over Democrats' objections, majority Republicans on the committee did not seek testimony from the four emergency managers who led Flint from 2011 to 2015, Snyder or former Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant, who resigned in December. The panel instead entered the testimony that the Republican governor, former emergency manager Darnell Earley and other officials gave before Congress into its record. “We've seen that the investigations are still ongoing for accountability, but with the amount of information this committee has received, I think the Flint residents deserve the opportunity for solutions,” Stamas said.

Michigan Lawmakers Wrap Up Flint Water Hearings

Thanks for the update.

Sorry as sorry can be but I don't see where we can expect politicians who are relying on experts to tell them the truth about the condition of the water supply to some how have a crystal ball to figure out half the bloody staff involved on a myriad of levels were lying their asses off.

Let alone hiding and fabricating data and not taking corrective actions. This goes for the State EPA and the Fed EPA. Those are the people who need to be bitch slapped into a new tomorrow.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

LMAO. The city council? I've seen some reaches, but this is hilarious. Pathetic, but hilarious.

They ran Flint into the dirt