Mich. governor appeals Obama's denial of disaster aid for Flint
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder today released his emails related to Flint's drinking water and asked President Barack Obama to reconsider the denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the crisis, saying its poses an "imminent and long-term threat" to residents.
Obama declared an emergency — qualifying the city for $5 million — but concluded that the dangerously high lead levels in the city's water system are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods. Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year.
In his appeal letter, Snyder called the decision a "narrow reading" and likened the crisis to a flood, "given that qualities within the water, over a long term, damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable."
The crisis "is a natural catastrophe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process," the governor wrote.
Flint's water became contaminated with lead when the city switched its water source in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under the city was under state financial management.