Task force slams Snyder administration on Flint water Paul Egan and Matthew
Dolan, Detroit Free Press FLINT A task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder
issued
a hard-hitting report on the Flint drinking water public health crisis,
slamming the catastrophe as a story of government failure, intransigence,
unpreparedness,
delay, inaction and environmental injustice. The 116-page report said the
state's controversial emergency manager law contributed to the lead
contamination
crisis by removing governmental checks and balances. It called for a review of
the law and said Snyder should look for alternatives to the current approach
that keeps locally elected officials more engaged. The report also calls for
creation of a Flint Toxic Exposure Registry "to include all the children and
adults residing in Flint from April 2014 to present. Though it puts most of the
blame on the state Department of Environmental Quality, the report also
singles out for blame the governor's office, the Michigan Department of Health
and Human Services, Flint emergency managers who Snyder appointed, the City
of Flint, the Genesee County Health Department, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Snyder, who appointed the task force in October, joined task
force members at Mott Community College in Flint Wednesday morning for the
report's release. "The Flint water crisis occurred when state-appointed
emergency
managers replaced local representative decision-making in Flint, removing the
checks and balances and public accountability that come with public
decision-making,"
the report said. "Emergency managers made key decisions that contributed to the
crisis, from the use of the Flint River to delays in reconnecting to DWSD
(the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) once water quality problems were
encountered. "Given the demographics of Flint, the implications for
environmental
injustice cannot be ignored or dismissed. But the report also said there were
valuable aspects to the crisis, including "the critical role played by engaged
Flint citizens, by individuals both inside and outside of government who had
the expertise and willingness to question and challenge government leadership,
and by members of a free press who used the tools that enable investigative
journalism. "Without their courage and persistence, this crisis likely never
would have been brought to light and mitigation efforts never begun," the
report said. Snyder appointed the task force in October. three weeks after he
and his administration acknowledged a problem with unsafe levels of lead in
Flint drinking water, following months of denials from DEQ officials. Snyder
called for an independent review of what led to the lead poisoning of Flint's
drinking water and "offer recommendations for future guidelines to protect
the health and safety of all state residents. The report says Snyder "must
assume the leadership of, and hold state departments accountable for, long-term
implementation of the recommendations in this report, including but not limited
to the need for cultural changes across multiple state agencies, the need
for health mitigation and (lead service line) replacement in Flint, and the
need for a funding strategy to address replacement of LSLs statewide. Initially
expected to report in February, the task force's work was extended by emerging
issues, particularly the possible connection between Flint River water and
outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area that are believed to have
contributed to 10 deaths. In late December, the task force issue an interim
report that placed most of the blame for the catastrophe on the DEQ and
prompted the immediate resignation of Dan Wyant, who was then the department
director,
and Brad Wurfel, who was the department's communications director. Liane
Shekter-Smith, who headed the DEQ's drinking water section, was later fired.
Another
DEQ official, Stephen Busch, is suspended pending completion of investigations
and disciplinary proceedings. Recommendations include: The task force members
are: Ken Sikkema, a senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants and a
former GOP Senate majority leader; Chris Kolb, president of the Michigan
Environmental
Council and a former Democratic lawmaker; Dr. Matthew Davis, a pediatrician in
the U-M Health System and a professor of public policy at U-M's Gerald R.
Ford School; Eric Rothstein, a national water issues consultant, and Dr.
Lawrence Reynolds, a Flint pediatrician and president of the Mott Children's
Health
Center. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on
Twitter @paulegan4.
