flint, mich. Emails show debate over blame for water
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich.
A day after doctors reported high levels of lead in Flint children, Gov. Rick Snyder’s top aide told him the “real responsibility” for the city’s water issues rested with local government officials, emails released Wednesday showed.
Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore also told the governor that residents were “caught in a swirl of misinformation” about lead contamination and that it was up to local leaders to confront the issue, according to the emails.
“Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety,” Muchmore wrote. “We can’t tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it’s really the city’s water system that needs to deal with it.”
In a Sept. 25 email, Muchmore said he could not “figure out why the state is responsible” before noting that former state Treasurer Andy Dillon had signed off on the city’s switch to a new water source. “So we’re not able to avoid the subject.”
Muchmore also said two state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could not “find evidence of a major change” in lead levels.
By early October, the Snyder administration was forced to acknowledge the lead concerns and help Flint return to the Detroit water system.
The two-term Republican released the emails a day after his annual State of the State speech in which he apologized again for the emergency and pledged to act.
Also Wednesday, Snyder asked President Barack Obama to reconsider the denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the crisis, saying it poses an “imminent and long-term threat” to residents.
Obama declared an emergency – qualifying the city for $5 million – but concluded that the high lead levels are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods.
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.”