State releases trove of e-mails related to Flint water Paul Egan, Detroit Free
Press Lansing Bureau LANSING The State of Michigan on Friday activated a
website containing a trove of e-mails related to the Flint drinking water
public health crisis, which began as a catastrophe involving lead contamination
and has expanded to include a possible link to outbreaks of Legionnaires'
disease that resulted in nine deaths. The documentation represents requests
fulfilled
to date by the Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Health and
Human Services, Department of Treasury, Department of Technology, Management
and Budget, and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development regarding Flint
water, the governor's office said in a news release. "All levels of government
failed the people of Flint," Snyder said. "This crisis should never have
happened, but we are making progress each day to meet the needs of residents.
By making the information easily accessible, everyone can review it and take
what they need, and then we can all focus and work together on solutions,
healing and moving Flint forward. Flint switched its drinking water source to
the Flint River in April 2014. The city was previously getting its water
from Lake Huron, which was treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department. A failure by the state Department of Environmental Quality to
require
the addition of needed corrosion control chemicals allowed the corrosive river
water to leach lead from pipes, joints and fixtures, sending the toxic metal
into an unknown number of Flint households. After months of denials, state
officials acknowledged lead poisoning of children in October. The concern about
Legionnaires' disease, a bacterial disease, emerged later. Gov. Rick Snyder
earlier released e-mails he sent and received related to the crisis in 2014
and 2015. There have been repeated calls for the governor to also release
e-mails he sent and received in 2013, as well as those sent and received by
officials
in his office during all three years. The governor's office is exempt from
Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or
pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
