Check out the line related to the Americans with Disabilities Act
non-compliance here, Most of the FOIA releases related to the Flint Water
Crisis are not accessible to this blind activist and I’ve complained before Any
person can access these documents for free, except those who are blind and I’ve
even received FOIA charges from Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of
Services for Blind Persons for information related to the Flint Water crisis
and how they did virtually nothing for blind persons in this county. . But, I
also made public complaints about this and other inaccessible documents and web
pages before the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on Thursday April 28 here
in Flint, the same day the one file was removed.
In fact I also testified that no state agency remits information in accessible
formats to people who are blind in this state, in a timely manner and it also
impacts those blind persons dealing with the Flint Water Crisis.
Joe Harcz
1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.
Mt. Morris, MI 48458
(Three miles from Flint.)
810-5160-5262
joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx
Flint EM told how to minimize Legionnaires’ outbreak
and Jim Lynch 1:08 a.m. EDT April 30, 2016
busch
Busch(Photo: Detroit News file photo)
Lansing — Flint’s last emergency manager was briefed in March 2015 on how the
city could “minimize the potential for an outbreak” of Legionnaires’ disease
cases in residential plumbing systems, according to newly released state
records.
Then-Emergency Manager Gerald Ambrose was copied to an email a Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality employee sent top Flint utility officials as
well as the city administrator about how to “limit the potential for legionella
occurrence” in the plumbings of homes, records show.
The March 17, 2015, email from DEQ water regulator Stephen Busch is the
earliest record that has surfaced indicating Flint’s emergency manager may have
been alerted to a spike in Legionnaires’ disease cases that ultimately
killed 12 people
and sickened another 79 people.
In addition to Ambrose, the email went to then-Flint Public Works Director
Howard Croft, then-City Administrator Natasha Henderson, water plant supervisor
Brent Wright, then-Utilities Administrator Daughtery Johnson and Mike Prysby, a
DEQ engineer who worked under Busch.
“There is currently no direct evidence of legionella in the city’s public water
system,” Busch wrote. “However, actions by the City of Flint water system
can help minimize the potential for an outbreak in customer plumbing systems.”
Busch and Prysby were recently charged with felonies for their handling of the
crisis and alleged efforts to tamper with lead testing samples and obstruct
a Genesee County health department investigation of the Legionnaires’ disease
outbreak.
The Legionnaires’ outbreak was
most heavily concentrated in Flint-area hospitals
during two separate waves between June 2014 and March 2015 and May 2015 and
October 2015.
Records show DEQ employees considered taking samples of Flint’s water in March
2015
but never followed through.
No direct link between Flint’s water source and the Legionnaires’ cases was
ever established during the outbreaks because no agency, state or federal,
investigated
the municipal water supply as a source. Wayne State University was tapped only
last month to evaluate the possible link.
But in the March 17, 2015, email to Flint officials, Busch detailed several
ways the city could minimize the bacterial threat through certain water
treatment
practices and monitoring for Legionella bacteria at the Flint Water Plant.
Just how government employees at the local, state and federal levels handled
the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and failed to notify the public is under
investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, the state Auditor General and
the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Clearly, everything is being looked at through all of the investigations that
are going on,” said Ari Adler, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder. “We are in
many ways piecing this puzzle together with emails just like everyone else.”
Ambrose stepped down as Flint’s emergency manager the month after Busch sent
his Legionnaires’ email, ending a nearly four-year reign of state control of
the city. Ambrose could not be reached Friday for comment.
Busch’s email to Flint officials came four days after he sent Genesee County
environmental health supervisor Jim Henry a tersely worded email responding
to Henry’s suspicions that the outbreak could be linked to Flint’s use of river
water since April 2014.
“Conclusions that legionella is coming from the public water system without the
presentation of any substantiating evidence from your epidemiologic
investigation
appears premature and prejudice toward that end,” Busch wrote to Henry on March
13, 2015.
The public would not be alerted until Jan. 13 when Snyder hosted a press
conference to disclose the rise in Legionnaires’ cases. Snyder’s office said he
was told just two days beforehand.
Earlier this month, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced criminal
charges against both Busch and Prysby for actions during the crisis. Flint
utilities administrator Michael Glasgow faces charges as well.
Schuette charged the two state workers with “willfully and knowingly
misleading” federal regulators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and
Genesee
County Health Department.
They are accused of concealing water sampling data that showed spikes in lead
contamination.
The charges against Prysby include two counts of misconduct in office, one
count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence, and
separate
violations of water treatment and monitoring laws.
Busch faces one charge of misconduct in office, one charge of conspiracy to
tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence of high lead levels, and separate
violations of water treatment and monitoring under the Michigan Safe Drinking
Water Act he was charged with enforcing.
Attorneys entered not-guilty pleas for both Prysby and Busch, who have both
been suspended without pay.
Busch’s March 17, 2015, email was contained in a 3,800-page file that was live
on Snyder’s website Thursday.
The Governor’s Office said the document was inadvertently posted online before
being made readable in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
It was removed from the state website late Thursday night after it was obtained
by The Detroit News.
Separately, Snyder’s office released an additional 6,778 pages of
DEQ emails
Friday afternoon.
clivengood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Twitter: @ChadLivengood
Source:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/04/30/flint-em-told-minimize-legionnaires-outbreak/83735168/
