Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

[Confounding]

Interesting...

Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

One of the most hotly debated questions about the Flint water crisis has been the one of who made the ill-fated decision to switch to the Flint River. Despite steady claims from the state that the decision was made by Flint officials, newly released emails show an aide to Gov. Rick Snyder disputed that notion just days before a damning op-ed by former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley. "It is important to note that council did not take a vote to use Flint river (sic)," Harvey Hollins, Snyder's director of urban initiatives, wrote in an Oct. 7, 2015 email to Dan Wyant, former director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Days later, however, Earley penned an op-ed claiming Flint officials approved the switch to the Flint River as the city's drinking water source.

The issue of who approved the switch has been a contentious one, with Flint officials saying they never voted to do it and state officials claiming the emergency manager, who was appointed by Snyder, was just following the will of the people when he signed off on the switch. Hollins' email stops short of saying who approved the switch, but said the decision to use the Flint River was made in April 2014 in order to stop paying Detroit for water service until the new Karegnondi Water Authority was online. Snyder's Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore and then-Communications Director Jarrod Agen, who has since replaced Muchmore as chief of staff, were copied on the email.Despite Hollins' information, Muchmore, less than two weeks later, signed off on Earley's editorial placing blame for the switch at the feet of Flint council members.

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Interesting...

Flint water emails show Flint City Council never approved switch

One of the most hotly debated questions about the Flint water crisis has been the one of who made the ill-fated decision to switch to the Flint River. Despite steady claims from the state that the decision was made by Flint officials, newly released emails show an aide to Gov. Rick Snyder disputed that notion just days before a damning op-ed by former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley. "It is important to note that council did not take a vote to use Flint river (sic)," Harvey Hollins, Snyder's director of urban initiatives, wrote in an Oct. 7, 2015 email to Dan Wyant, former director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Days later, however, Earley penned an op-ed claiming Flint officials approved the switch to the Flint River as the city's drinking water source.

The issue of who approved the switch has been a contentious one, with Flint officials saying they never voted to do it and state officials claiming the emergency manager, who was appointed by Snyder, was just following the will of the people when he signed off on the switch. Hollins' email stops short of saying who approved the switch, but said the decision to use the Flint River was made in April 2014 in order to stop paying Detroit for water service until the new Karegnondi Water Authority was online. Snyder's Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore and then-Communications Director Jarrod Agen, who has since replaced Muchmore as chief of staff, were copied on the email.Despite Hollins' information, Muchmore, less than two weeks later, signed off on Earley's editorial placing blame for the switch at the feet of Flint council members.

There was something on BBC World Service about situation in Flint, Michigan. I was shocked to say least, many thousands of people with actual lead poisoning.

How is American MSM reporting this, is it being reported well on the television?

This surely must be a crime against the people of Flint. How has this happened? How has America fallen to this level, where it's own citizens are put in danger from those who are supposed to protect them and their health?

 

[saveliberty]

I suppose the council vote in their session means nothing...

 

[saveliberty]

The resolution does not indicate support or opposition to using the river, but Earley said river water was part of the overall plan presented to him by Walling and other city staff when he started working in Flint in October 2013.

"Anyone who says otherwise is being disingenuous for whatever reason," Earley's statement said.

Ex-emergency manager says local leaders made decision to use Flint River water

 

[gipper]

Government. It always fails.

 

[Dragonlady]

Government. It always fails.

Bullshit.

Government fails when it makes decisions that aren't based on what's best for the people. If you go on what's cheapest or the easiest way to go without regard to what's best for the people of your community, you'll fail.

Government frequently does things well, but government is often hamstrung by idiots who will not acknowledge that government does some things well.