E-mails: Snyder aide told of Legionnaires' in March Paul Egan , Detroit Free
Press LANSING -- An aide in the office of Gov. Rick Snyder was notified in
March -- more than nine months before Snyder said he learned of the problem --
that there was an increase in Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County and
a county health official was attributing the change to drinking water taken
from the Flint River, according to records released Thursday by the liberal
group Progress Michigan. Former DEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel sent
the e-mail on March 13, 2015'to Harvey Hollins, who is Snyder's director of
urban initiatives. "More than 40 cases reported since last April," Wurfel said
in the e-mail. That's a significant uptick. More than all the cases reported
in the last five years or more combined. Wurfel said that Jim Henry of the
Genesee County Health Department is "putting up the flare," and has "made the
'leap formally in his e-mail that the uptick in cases is directly attributable
to the river as a drinking water source. A Snyder spokesman told The Associated
Press Snyder was not informed of the e-mail. 'For months the public has been
asking Gov. Snyder what he knew and when he knew it regarding the Flint crisis
and this email shows that one of his top aides was aware nearly a year ago that
county health officials were concerned that the switch to the Flint River
could be potentially deadly,' said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress
Michigan. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow
him on Twitter @paulegan4. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
