Activists deliver petitions calling on Snyder to resign Paul Egan, Detroit Free
Press Lansing Bureau LANSING - A handful of demonstrators gathered outside
Gov. Rick Snyder's office across from the Capitol Thursday as MoveOn.org and
other liberal groups delivered what they say are close to a million signatures
from across the country calling on Snyder to resign over the lead contamination
of Flint's drinking water. The activists erected an ice sculpture, the
top of it fashioned from brown-colored ice to represent contaminated water,
reading, "Snyder Poisoned Flint. The rally was also organized by the groups
UltraViolet and Democracy for America. The online petition was promoted by
filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from the Flint area. Snyder, who was in Detroit
Thursday and not inside his offices in the Romney Building in Lansing, has
"proved himself incapable of handling this crisis," said Neil Sroka,
communications
director for Democracy for America. A Snyder spokesman did not immediately
respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Snyder has repeatedly said he has no
intention
of resigning and is focused on fixing Flint's drinking water, infrastructure
and health problems. Ruelaine Stokes of Lansing, who joined the demonstration,
said she's pleased that federal agencies including the FBI and the U.S.
Attorney's Office are investigating the water contamination. "It's a level of
heartlessness
and incompetence that's just incomprehensible," Stokes said. However, "nothing
is going to happen in Michigan without the federal government coming in.
Flint's water became contaminated with lead in April 2014, while the city was
under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, after it temporarily
switched its source of drinking water from Lake Huron water treated by the
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to Flint River water treated at the Flint
water treatment plant. For months, state officials dismissed reports of rising
lead levels in the drinking water and the blood of Flint children before
acknowledging a problem around Oct. 1. A task force appointed by Snyder, in a
preliminary report, said most of the blame falls on the Michigan Department
of Environmental Quality, which misunderstood federal rules and failed to
require Flint to add corrosion-control chemicals to the Flint River water. As
a result, lead leached from pipes, joints and fixtures into an unknown number
of Flint households, causing a spike in lead levels in the blood of many
Flint children. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow
him on Twitter @paulegan4.
