Has anyone heard / seen any action on OpFlint? I love that the Freep went to bat sounding the alarms about state cybersecurity.
Sadly the whole thing seems pretty quiet, but maybe just in my circles. Like, I don't need the press release again.
Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
by Luther Blissett » Mon Jan 25, 2016 1:05 pm
by Burnt Hill » Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:48 pm
Burnt Hill » Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:01 pm wrote:http://somcsprod2govm001.usgovcloudapp.net/files/snyder%20emails.pdfLee Ann Walters contacted DHHS nurse Karen Lishinski to discuss her child's high lead level. The response: "He is barely lead poisoned. If CDC had not changed their lead poisoning standard f rom 10 down to 5, we would not be having this conversation ... I am working with kids in their 40's and 50's. It is just a few IQ points ... it is not the end of the world."
page 248
Where is the local militia?
* Found it necessary to add the green font as I would prefer not to be thought of as crypto- right wing.
A group of vigilantes has vowed to take up arms to defend the city’s residents. During a rally in front of City Hall, an executive officer for the Genesee County Volunteer Militia announced the group is “not going to allow [the government] to step on the people of Flint any longer.”
“We’re here to defend this community,” said Matthew Krol, who was joined by approximately 30 supporters. The Detroit Free Press reported that the group carried “Don’t Tread On Me” signs and some of its members had pistols. “We’re not going to allow (the government) to step on the people of Flint any longer.”
So far, the group has passed out bottles of water alongside the Red Cross. But the militia has also promised to use armed defense if necessary.
by Luther Blissett » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:06 pm
by seemslikeadream » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:10 pm
by seemslikeadream » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:35 pm
Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:07pm EST Related: U.S., ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Plaintiffs' lawyers wary of taking on Flint water scandal
BY BRENDAN PIERSON
The water scandal in Flint, Michigan has many of the ingredients for a mass, class-action lawsuit: danger signs that may have been ignored, many thousands of potential victims, the possibility of lifelong health problems, and the alleged systemic failure of people in charge.
Even consumer activist Erin Brockovich, the main subject of a 2000 movie named after her, has drawn attention to Flint's plight on her Facebook page and in public appearances.
But big-name, national plaintiffs' firms have yet to jump into the fray in Flint, which has a population of about 100,000.
What's holding them back, several lawyers said, is not the facts or the victims, but the prospective targets: The State of Michigan, the city of Flint, and officials at various levels of government. Special legal protections make it difficult to hold governments liable for damages, they said.
Federal and state governments and employees engaged in their official duties are shielded from most private lawsuits by a legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity. The doctrine, enshrined in the laws of many countries, stems from the centuries-old principle that the government itself cannot commit a legal wrong, though exceptions have evolved.
While cities in the U.S. are not technically considered to have sovereign status, they are similarly protected by state and federal laws.
As of Friday, only a few lawsuits had been filed in the wake of the crisis that began when the city began in April 2014 to use river water, which was more corrosive than its previous supply source and caused lead to leach from aging pipes into the water that people drank and washed in.
Those suits were filed against the state, city, and various state employees by a group of Michigan lawyers who are pushing relatively novel theories designed to circumvent immunity. The financially troubled city was governed by a state-appointed emergency manager at the time of the change to the river water.
A spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette declined to comment on the lawsuits. The Flint City Attorney's Office did not return calls seeking comment.
The legal scene couldn't be more different in Southern California, where several big, national law firms are behind some of more than 25 suits filed over a disastrous natural gas leak near Los Angeles that has forced thousands of residents from their homes since October.
The targets of those suits are the utility Southern California Gas Co and its parent company Sempra Energy, the non-government operators of the leaking gas storage facility. A state court in Los Angeles is currently considering a motion to coordinate the cases.
"THEY POISONED KIDS"
Frank Petosa, head of complex environmental litigation at Florida's Morgan & Morgan, which is representing residents in the California case in multiple lawsuits, said the firm decided against litigating in Flint for now.
"The concern is the sovereign immunity," Petosa said.
Robin Greenwald of New York plaintiffs’ firm Weitz & Luxenberg, which is also representing plaintiffs in California, agreed that immunity was an obstacle in Flint. But she did not rule out getting involved in some way.
“I really believe there must be something to do here,” she said. “There must be an opportunity for that community to be compensated. They poisoned kids.”
Tests have shown an alarming rise in the levels of lead in the blood of children from the city.
The crisis has led to the resignations of several officials, federal and state investigations, and widespread concerns that a potential health crisis in a largely poor, majority African-American city had been ignored. Officials had insisted the water was safe for many months despite concerns expressed by residents and activists after the change in the source of the supply.
Sovereign immunity does not apply if the government or an employee infringes on the U.S. constitution, as in, for example, cases where police have allegedly violated someone’s civil rights. It also may not apply if the plaintiff can show there was gross negligence. Michigan law, however, shields the state's topmost officials - including the governor, agency heads and Flint's emergency manager - even in cases of gross negligence.
There are other exceptions to immunity, such as injuries involving government-owned vehicles or buildings, but they are typically spelled out in state and federal laws and not applicable to the water crisis, lawyers said.
Undaunted by the high bar, a coalition of Michigan lawyers is pursuing creative arguments on behalf of what one of them, William Goodman of Detroit's Goodman & Hurwitz, said could be as many as 30,000 to 90,000 residents.
"We're zigging and zagging around government immunity," said another of the lawyers, Michael Pitt, of Royal Oak, Michigan's Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers.
STATE-CREATED DANGER
One of the Flint lawsuits, filed in November against the state and local governments and various officials in U.S. district court in Ann Arbor, makes a federal constitutional argument. It contends that the decision to switch the water source denied residents their civil rights to bodily integrity and to be free from state-created danger. The state's response is due next month.
Pitt said he was aware of no federal appeals court that had addressed such claims in a comparable situation, but a similar suit over asbestos in public housing is currently pending in a Philadelphia trial court.
The Flint lawyers announced two other lawsuits this month. One, filed in the Michigan Court of Claims against the governor and state agencies, alleges state constitutional violations. The other, filed in Genesee County Circuit Court, targets lower-level officials who are not protected by Michigan's immunity laws if they are shown to have acted with gross negligence.
In all three cases, the plaintiffs are seeking damages for alleged health problems from the water. In the federal case, they also are seeking punitive damages, which are barred in Michigan state courts.
"We're going to continue to fight until we get what we need," said former Flint City Attorney Trachelle Young, one of the lawyers in the group.
Jean Eggen, a professor at Delaware Law School specializing in environmental law, said all the Flint lawyers' legal arguments would be challenging but maybe not impossible. In her view a "forward-thinking" judge might be open to the constitutional arguments.
But Peter Hsiao, the Los Angeles-based head of the environment practice at global law firm Morrison & Foerster, who has represented California agencies and municipalities against environmental lawsuits seeking to circumvent sovereign immunity, said those cases were all dismissed by judges before trial.
"I think in Flint they’ll have the same difficulties," Hsiao said.
Rick Snyder Donor Picked To Lead Investigation Of Flint Water Crisis
BY JOSH ISRAEL JAN 25, 2016 2:19 PM
Weeks after refusing to even look into allegations of wrongdoing in the Flint water crisis, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) announced on Monday that he is appointing a special counsel to investigate the situation. Schuette said that he has selected former prosecutor Todd Flood, a donor to both Schuette and Gov. Rick Synder (R), to determine whether anyone broke state law.
Snyder has been criticized for his administration’s handling of the crisis, which has left tens of thousands without safe drinking water and may have caused irreversible damage to Flint children, including allegations that they did nothing even after learning the water was not safe to drink. A class-action lawsuit filed by Flint residents alleges that both Snyder and the state government breached their contract to provide drinkable water and of violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act by saying it was safe.
Schuette, whose office is also responsible for defending Snyder in the class action suit, vowed to establish “an ethics-based conflict wall between him and his investigation team, and the team defending the governor and state departments against Flint water-related law suits.” As part of this effort, he appointed Flood to be special counsel and former Detroit FBI Chief Andrew Arena to assist the investigation.
Flood vowed to “provide Michigan residents with an impartial answer to the question of whether any state laws were broken.” But his own impartiality could come into question. According to National Institute on Money in State Politics data, Flood contributed $3,400 to Schuette’s 2010 campaign and $6,800 more to his 2014 re-election effort. He also gave $1,000 to Synder’s 2010 campaign committee and $2,000 for his 2014 race.
Flood said at the announcement press conference that he has contributed to both parties over the years and that despite his financial support for Snyder, “I don’t have a bias or prejudice one way or another.”
In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Snyder took some responsibility for the lead poisoning crisis. Though the governor promised to voluntarily release his emails — which are not public under Michigan’s disclosure laws — he released a heavily redacted and apparently incomplete set of electronic messages.
As recently as December, Schuette dismissed calls for a probe into the lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint. Asked in September by state Rep. Sheldon Neeley (D-Flint) to “investigate and determine if the City of Flint and/or the State of Michigan and its agents have culpability and responsibility for this unfortunate problem,” the Attorney General replied that “given the multiple reviews by federal and state agencies, and the pending and potential federal court actions, we do not believe it necessary to conduct an additional investigation.”
by seemslikeadream » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:26 am
Subpoenas served for Gov. Rick Snyder's Flint water emails
Flint residents and attorneys announced two new class action lawsuits filed against Gov. Rick Snyder, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and other current and former state and county officials on University of Michigan-Flint's on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Sean Proctor | MLive.com
Sean Proctor | sproctor@mlive.com
on January 25, 2016 at 10:33 PM, updated January 25, 2016 at 11:18 PM
FLINT, MI – Gov. Rick Snyder's emails and other communications have been subpoenaed as part of an ongoing class-action lawsuit over the city's water crisis.
Subpoenas were served Monday, Jan. 25, on Snyder and the Michigan Department of Environmental quality as part of civil action over alleged personal injury and physical damages suffered by residents during the city's water crisis.
The subpoenas are seeking the emails, text messages or other documents sent or received by Snyder, his staff and Flint's former emergency mangers relating to the Flint River as a source of drinking water, Flint River quality and the Karegnondi Water Authority, according to the attorneys who filed the lawsuit.
Similar documents are requested from the DEQ.
Snyder's representatives declined to comment on the subpoenas.
"It would be inappropriate to discuss pending litigation," said Snyder's Press Secretary Dave Murray.
The contents of Snyder and his administration's communications have become a focal point in the city's water crisis.
Snyder's office, in what Murray called an "unprecedented move" released nearly 300 pages of emails from 2014 and 2015 last week in response to demands that he disclose his communications involving the Flint water crisis.
The release included emails, talking points and previously-released studies, but has drawn criticism from some who alleged the release may have been incomplete. The release also did not include communications from 2013, when the city began receiving its drinking water from the Flint River
Emails from Snyder's office are exempt from the state's Freedom of Information Act, and the governor declined to release emails from his staff.
The subpoenas seek records dating back to the beginning of 2011.
The lawsuits were filed by a team of lawyers from across the state, including Royal Oak-based Pitt McGhee Palmer & Rivers, Detroit-based Goodman & Hurwitz, Ann Arbor's Deborah LaBelle and Flint's Trachelle Young.
Flint residents were told not to drink their water in October. However, residents are still required to pay for the water and the city has been sending shutoff notices to those who do not comply.
The city of Flint switched its water source to the Flint River in April 2014. Testing showed high levels of lead in the blood of children and infants since the switch. This month, state and Genesee County officials announced the Flint area has also seen a spike in the cases of Legionnaires' disease, including nine deaths, although a link to the water switch has not been confirmed.
Snyder declared a state of emergency in Genesee County on Jan. 5 and earlier this month President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration opening the door for federal aid to deal with Flint's water crisis.
by seemslikeadream » Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:41 am
JANUARY 27, 2016
Flint: Genocide by Design
by NORMAN POLLACK
America is in the business of killing off its presumed undesirables, conversely, playing favorites with those it admires. In simplistic terms, this comes down to race; yet race is code for other factors that transcend racial boundaries, so that whites as well as blacks are in the crosshairs of capitalism when these factors come into play: poverty, radicalism, vanishing industry, all three conspicuous in Flint’s historical-cultural-industrial setting. Flint is a loser by American standards because it is predominantly black, is associated with labor militancy (heritage of the Sit-Down strikes), and, as determined by corporate giantism, no longer the green pastures sought by the automotive industry in its search for high profits. Still more basic, Flint is an ideal scapegoat in the structural context of internal colonialism, a throwaway appendage serving foremost as an example of America’s powers, at home and abroad, to inflict pain and induce submission as a testimony to its own lofty purpose and rectitude as a Conquering Nation. Exceptionalism comes to Michigan with a vengeance, enjoying the full cooperation of federal, state, and local government in the city’s plight of social misery.
Results can be achieved without conscious planning. Societal phenomena do not just happen, but when a nation’s governing institution, political economy, and ideology converge, which is usually the case, a framework has been established for how people’s lives are managed, what they are expected to think, and the mechanisms for social control instated to ensure stability. In Flint’s case, the relative abandonment of its manufacturing base already served to discipline its population into fatalistic quiescence. Michael Moore lived to fight back, but not many more did. From all sides, the smell of the kill grew more acute, more enticing, Flint, a micro-Detroit too large to knock down and bring to its knees. Detroit is becoming gentrified piece by piece, Flint, however, too far gone for that purpose, and hence readied for the assault, the rape of its once-proud identity as a working-class true biracial town truly a red flag to the American bull[y] and logical target for the hate-driven ethnocentrism red-baiting/race-baiting characterizing the American mindset. Flint is like Minsk, too remote to worry about, yet under the surface fit for demonizing because somehow, dimly, representing the enemy, an alien existence.
When the switch was made in the water supply the EPA as a matter of course, given the source would be the Detroit River, should have demanded and enforced a rigid protocol backed by daily testing; the city health department and state Department of Environmental Quality, ditto in support of that effort; and the governor from day one on top of the situation. In my mind’s eye I thought of an ideal experiment, simultaneous steps to introduce a toxic supply into the water systems of Flint and Traverse City, the latter white, privileged, good vibes emanating from its recreational image. If the lead content in the young children of Flint had been found in the children of Traverse City, would months of inaction, deceptions, outright lies, culminating in the governor’s faux-apology to the state legislature have in the latter case happened or even been allowed? No, racism does not fully explain what happened in, and to, Flint, contemptuous dismissal of the class enemy, who signified an obstacle to enhanced capitalist development via relocated plants, outsourcing, the weakening of labor, all consistent with a primordial racism which no longer requires identification and expression, and, relatedly, the go-ahead signal to capitalism to make self-aggrandizing decisions with impunity, no explanations offered.
Meanwhile, the people of Flint, to all intents defeated, have not fought back, instead falling into despair or numbness. This is a battle of Cynical Triumph, enough criminal behavior spread out around the table so that no-one feels—or is to be judged—implicated. That children will bear the physical results and learning disabilities of contaminated water and contaminated measures of contaminated policy makers up and down the line is understood and explained by the classic evasion of monstrous evil: deus ex machina, as though introduced by God from heaven or, in Webster’s, as introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty. No-one takes real responsibility, a self-castrating exercise of both political parties, state and nation. Here it is instructive to look at Paul Krugman’s NYT article, (Jan. 25), typical liberal tripe, as opposed to radical analysis, fed from the bowels of a dead carcass—American freedom—to an adoring, again liberal, public and readership.
He sets up a promising background: “In the 1850s, London, the world’s largest city, still didn’t have a sewer system. Waste simply flowed into the Thames…. But conservatives…opposed any effort to remedy the situation. After all, such an effort would involve increased government spending and, they insisted, infringe on personal liberty and local control.” Of course, familiar, except that the position is not exclusive to conservatives. Obama’s visit to Detroit led to brief reference to sadness for the affected children in Flint, crocodile tears when it came to remedies beyond a small allocation of federal funds, while Snyder, in his State of the State Address, did little more: to deplore a situation, partly of one’s own making, is an empty mea culpa when not accompanied by substantive change, criminal charges, especially directed against those who manipulated data and failed to carry out their responsibilities (himself, on the latter, a suitable candidate), and dealing forthrightly with health issues. Krugman: “It took the Great Stink of 1858, when the stench made the Houses of Parliament unusable, to produce action.” 158-odd years later, the Michigan legislature has still not kept up with its Great Stink, almost from day one of the supply switch, discoloration and foul odor of the water was noted by residents—with nothing done.
To his credit, Krugman a) recognizes that an essential public principle is being violated, and b) sees Flint itself in a more general context. “Modern politicians, no matter how conservative, understand that public health is an essential government role. Right? No, wrong—as illustrated by the disaster in Flint, Mich.” The chain of guilt extended far and wide: “What we know so far is that in 2014 the city’s emergency manager—appointed by Rick Snyder, the state’s Republican governor—decided to switch to an unsafe water source, with lead contamination and more, in order to save money. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that state officials knew that they were damaging public health, putting children in particular at risk, even as they stonewalled both residents and health experts.” Nevertheless, he omits mention of liberals and Democrats, not just conservatives and Republicans, as obviously derelict or complicit—too, health experts who could have daily taken samples of the water and, the lead content discovered, children’s blood samples as well. Where I credit Krugman is on his generalization: “This story—America in the 21st century, and you can trust neither the water nor what officials say about it—would be a horrifying outrage even if it were an accident or an isolated instance of bad policy. But it isn’t. On the contrary, the nightmare in Flint reflects the resurgence in American politics of exactly the same attitudes that led to London’s Great Stink more than a century and a half ago.”
Then he caves in, superbly revealing the limitations of liberalism, and—hopefully not a cheap shot—how the Nobel Prize in Economics is rewarded, i.e., keep it straight, avoid stepping on capitalism’s toes, be respectful and respectable: in this case, take the high ground and avoid controversy by narrowing the boundaries of what it is legitimate to discuss: “Let’s back up a bit, and talk about the role of government in an advanced society.” Yes, let’s, and in order to see the antiradical core of liberalism, elimination of VALUES wherever possible. “In the modern world,” he writes, “much government spending goes to social insurance programs—things like Social Security, Medicare and so on, that are supposed to protect citizens from the misfortunes of life.” One would have thought, no argument, applause from liberals! He continues: “Such spending is the subject of fierce political debate, and understandably so.” Now in retreat: “Liberals want to help the poor and unlucky, conservatives want to let people keep their hard-earned income, and there’s no right answer to this debate, because it’s a question of values.”
I submit that Flint and all that it represents is a test of liberalism, and not merely conservatism. How much courage does it take to affirm social insurance programs? And go further, seek their fuller democratization, rather than beg off on grounds of inconclusiveness? Liberal exquisite-ness of argumentation and analysis can go only so far before its emptiness is revealed—here the distinction between “public goods” and the social welfare: “There should, however, be much less debate about spending on what Econ 101 calls public goods—things that benefit everyone and can’t be provided by the public sector.” The trouble is, all that makes for a life which is safe, healthy, amicable, non-exploitative, can and should be considered public goods, not just those wherein values may be evident to the supposedly objective-minded economist. Democracy is a value; freedom is a value; taking a stand on the utter legitimacy of both, and working toward their fuller, more comprehensive achievement, is not grounds for ruling them out as public goods. Many things “benefit everyone,” militarism not being one of them, nor crumbling infrastructure, another. Instead, the circle narrows, as though only a priori things will do: “Yes, we can differ over exactly how big a military we need or how dense and well-maintained the road network should be, but you wouldn’t expect controversy about spending enough to provide key public goods like basic education or safe drinking water.”
Nor would you expect the analyst/observer to hide behind basic education and safe drinking water, in order to escape from taking a stand on military-influenced capitalism and suffocation of the social safety net, let alone myriad other vital issues, such as socialized medicine—there I’ve said it (rather than the single-payer system)—instead of the for-profit Affordable Care Act. I surmise Krugman is a person of good will, a convinced liberal, who finds radicalism abhorrent as much as reaction, in which case ideological myopia still colors the analysis and confines his attention to attacking the Right without reckoning that the Center and Right have melded, as witness everything Obama and the Clintons represent, and together constitute shock troops for advanced capitalism and unilateral global dominance. Those poor conservatives: “Yet a funny thing has happened as hard-line conservatives have taken over many U.S. state governments. Or actually, it’s not funny at all. Not surprisingly, they have sought to cut social insurance spending on the poor. In fact, many state governments dislike spending on the poor so much that they are rejecting a Medicaid expansion that wouldn’t cost them anything, because it’s federally financed.” To summarize, Krugman finds Flint to be “an all too typically American situation of (literally) poisonous interaction between ideology and race, in which small-government extremists are empowered by the sense of too many voters that good government is simply a giveaway to Those People.”
Race is undoubtedly in the mix, but the ideology runs deeper than small-government extremists imposing their will on an equally resentful, frustrated electorate; all of America, its history, its current practice, is implicated in the poisoning of Flint.
by seemslikeadream » Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:17 pm
Do Not Send Us Bottles of Water. Instead, Join Us in a Revolt
byMichael Moore
Lila Cabbil, of Flint, takes to the megaphone to start a chant of "Jail to the Chief," Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016 at the protest over Governor Rick Snyder's handling of the Flint water crisis, outside the Capitol Building at Governor Snyder's State of the State address. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal)
Many of you have contacted me wanting to know how you can help the people of Flint with the two-year long tragedy of drinking water contaminated by the radical decisions made by the Governor of Michigan. The offer is much appreciated by those who are suffering through this and who have not drank a glass of unpoisoned water since April of 2014.
Unfortunately, the honest answer to your offer of help is, sadly, you can't.
You can't help.
The reason you can't help is that you cannot reverse the irreversible brain damage that has been inflicted upon every single child in Flint. The damage is permanent. There is no medicine you can send, no doctor or scientist who has any way to undo the harm done to thousands of babies, toddlers and children (not to mention their parents). They are ruined for life, and someone needs to tell you the truth about that. They will, forever, suffer from various neurological impediments, their IQs will be lowered by at least 20 points, they will not do as well in school and, by the time they reach adolescence, they will exhibit various behavioral problems that will land a number of them in trouble, and some of them in jail.
That is what we know about the history of lead poisoning when you inflict it upon a child. It is a life sentence. In Flint, they've already ingested it for these two years, and the toll has already been taken on their developing brains. No check you write, no truckloads of Fiji Water or Poland Spring, will bring their innocence or their health back to normal.
It's done. And it was done knowingly, enacted by a political decision from a governor and a political party charged by the majority of Michigan's citizens who elected them to cut taxes for the rich, take over majority-black cities by replacing the elected mayors and city councils, cut costs, cut services, cut more taxes for the rich, increase taxes on retired teachers and public employees and, ultimately, try to decimate their one line of defense against all this, this thing we used to call a union.
The amount of generosity since the national media finally started to cover this story has been tremendous. Pearl Jam sent 100,000 bottles of water. The next day the Detroit Lions showed up with a truck and 100,000 bottles of water. Yesterday, Puff Daddy and Mark Wahlberg donated 1,000,000 bottles of water! Unbelievably amazing. They acknowledged it's a very short-term fix, and that it is.
Flint has 102,000 residents, each in need of an average of 50 gallons of water a day for cooking, bathing, washing clothes, doing the dishes, and drinking (I'm not counting toilet flushes, watering plants or washing the car). But 100,000 bottles of water is enough for just one bottle per person -- in other words, just enough to cover brushing one's teeth for one day.
You would have to send 200 bottles a day, per person, to cover what the average American (we are Americans in Flint) needs each day. That's 102,000 citizens times 200 bottles of water - which equals 20.4 million 16oz. bottles of water per day, every day, for the next year or two until this problem is fixed (oh, and we'll need to find a landfill in Flint big enough for all those hundreds of millions of plastic water bottles, thus degrading the local environment even further). Anybody want to pony up for that? Because THAT is the reality.
This is a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. There is not a terrorist organization on Earth that has yet to figure out how to poison 100,000 people every day for two years -- and get away with it. That took a governor who subscribes to an American political ideology hell-bent on widening the income inequality gap and conducting various versions of voter and electoral suppression against people of color and the poor. It was those actions that led Michigan's Republican governor to try out his economic and racial experiment in Flint (and please don't tell me this has nothing to do with race or class; he has removed the mayors of a number of black cities.
This, and the water crisis in Flint, never would have been visited upon the residents of Bloomfield Hills or Grosse Pointe -- and everyone here knows that). We have now seen the ultimate disastrous consequences of late-20th century, neo-conservative, trickle down public policy. That word "trickle," a water-based metaphor, was used to justify this economic theory -- well, it's no longer a metaphor, is it? Because now we're talking about how actual water has been used to institute these twisted economic beliefs in destroying the lives of the black and the poor in Flint, Michigan.
So, do you still want to help? Really help? Because what we need in Flint - and across the country - right now, tonight, is a nonviolent army of people who are willing to stand up for this nation, and go to bat for the forgotten of Flint.
Here's what you and I need to do:
1. Demand the removal and arrest of Rick Snyder, the Governor of Michigan.
When the police have an "active shooter" situation in a building, they must first stop the shooter before they can bring aid to the victims. The perp who allowed the poisoning to continue once he knew something was wrong -- and his minions who cooked the evidence so the public and the feds wouldn't find out -- must be removed from office ASAP. Whether it's via resignation, recall or prosecution, this must happen now because he is still refusing to take the aggressive and immediate action needed. His office, as recently as this past Thursday, was claiming the EPA had no legal authority to tell him what to do. You know the EPA -- that federal agency every Republican politician wants eliminated? Governor Snyder is not going to obey the law. He has covered up the crime, and I submit he has committed an act of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Last month I posted a meme of me holding a pair of handcuffs with the hashtag #ArrestGovSnyder:
2016-01-27-1453912255-9613407-moore.jpg
It went viral, so I posted a petition (link) to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking her to arrest the governor -- and asking President Obama to send help to Flint immediately. As each day brought a new revelation of the Governor's corruption or incompetence, and with Rachel Maddow on a nightly tear, the momentum built. MoveOn.org and Democracy For America joined me in circulating our petition. We are now on our way to having a half-million signatures! Then Bernie Sanders became the first candidate to call for the Governor's removal. That same day, President Obama issued his first emergency order for Flint. The next night, Hillary Clinton fiercely called out the racist actions of the Governor.
You want to help? Sign the petition -- and get everyone you know to sign it. Now. Another half-million signatures could become the tipping point we need. All eyes are on Flint.
2. Make the State of Michigan pay for the disaster that the State of Michigan created.
The governor wants the president to declare Flint a federal disaster zone and have him send federal money to fix the problem. Not so fast. All relief aid for Flint currently coming from the federal government to Michigan is going through the Governor's office to disburse. That is literally paying the fox to fix the chicken coop he destroyed.
As a Michigan resident and voter, I think that the people who elected Governor Snyder must show some of that personal responsibility they're always lecturing about to the poor. The majority of my fellow Michiganders wanted this kind of government (they elected him twice), so now they should have to pay for it. This year the state treasury posted nearly a $600 million surplus. There is also another $600 million in the state's "rainy day fund". That's $1.2 billion -- just about what Flint's congressman, Dan Kildee, estimates it will cost to replace the water infrastructure and care for the thousands of poisoned children throughout their growing years.
And before there is any talk of federal tax dollars being used (and, yes, they will be needed), the state legislature must remove the billion-dollars' worth of tax cuts the Snyder administration gave the wealthy when he took office. That will go a long way to helping not just Flint but Michigan's other destitute cities and school districts.
3. The federal government must then be placed in charge.
The state government cannot be trusted to get this right. So, instead of declaring a federal disaster zone, President Obama must declare the same version of martial law that Governor Snyder declared over the cities of Flint and Detroit. He must step in and appoint a federal emergency manager in the state capitol to direct the resources of both the state and federal government in saving Flint.
This means immediately sending in FEMA in full force. It means sending in the CDC to determine the true extent of not just the lead poisoning in the water, but also the latest outbreak that has been discovered in Flint -- a tenfold increase in the number of Flint people who've contracted Legionnaires Disease. There have now been 87 cases since the switch to the Flint River water, and ten people have died. The local hospital has also noted sharp increases in a half-dozen other toxins found in people's bodies.
We need the CDC. The EPA must take over the testing of the water, and the Army Corps of Engineers must be sent in to begin replacing the underground pipes. Like the levees in New Orleans, this will be a massive undertaking. If it is turned over to for-profit businesses, it will take a decade and cost billions. This needs to happen right now and Obama must be in charge.
4. Evacuate any and all Flint residents who want to leave now.
They've suffered long enough and, until the water is truly safe, no one should have to stay there who doesn't want to. The state and FEMA should move people into nearby white townships that are still hooked up to Lake Huron water.
5. For those who choose to stay in Flint, FEMA must create a temporary water system in each home.
One idea that has been suggested is to deliver two 55-gallon drums to every home in Flint. Each day water trucks will arrive to fill them with fresh clean glacial water from Lake Huron. The drums will have taps attached to them. People can't be expected to carry jugs of water from buildings that are miles away.
In the end, we will need to create a new economy and bring new employment to this town that created the middle class, that elected the first black mayor, and that believed in and created the American Dream. They deserved more than to be poisoned by their own Governor -- a Governor who thought that, because the people in the town were politically weak, he could get away with this unnoticed and without a fight. He figured wrong.
A crime against humanity has been committed against the people of Flint, making them refugees in their own homes. Tell me honestly: if you were living in Flint right now, and you learned that your children had been drinking lead-filled water for two years, and then you discovered that the Governor knew this and the state lied about it -- tell me, just how fast would your head be spinning? With your children now poisoned, and with the poisoning continuing... is the word "nonviolence" dominating your thoughts right now? Are you absolutely, stunningly amazed how peaceful the people in Flint have remained? Are you curious how much longer that can last? I hope it does.
If you want to help Flint, sign the petition, demand that the federal government take action, and then get involved yourself, wherever you live, so that this doesn't happen to you -- and so that the people we elect know they can no longer break the law as they rule by fiat or indifference. We deserve much better than this.
For a better world,
Michael Moore
by seemslikeadream » Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:36 pm
Another Lead Water Poisoning Scandal Has Erupted, This Time in Ohio
COLE MELLINO OF ECOWATCH ON BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Amid the Flint, Michigan water crisis, experts warned that what’s happening in Flint could happen elsewhere. And now it appears it already has. The town of Sebring, Ohio outside of Youngstown learned Thursday that high levels of lead were detected in some residents’ water last summer.
Residents are now demanding to know why they have been left in the dark for months. According to the AP, schools have been closed for three days, children are being tested for lead poisoning, bottled water is being handed out and state regulators are calling for a criminal investigation of the town’s water plant manager.
“How long has this been going on and how much did we drink it?” Sebring resident Nina McIlvain asked. “I’m sure there’s more to it than we know.”
According to AP, last summer, seven of 20 homes where the water is routinely tested showed excessive levels of lead. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the manager of the small water system failed to notify the public within the required 60 days and submitted “misleading, inaccurate or false reports.” Plant manager James Bates said the allegations were an “outright lie.”
But Bates does not have the best record. The Ohio EPA accused him in 2009 of “repeatedly violating state rules over the previous several years and operating the plant in a manner that endangered public health,” the AP reported. In those previous violations, he attempted to ignore poor water readings and submitted misleading, inaccurate or false reports.
The Ohio EPA issued an emergency order Monday prohibiting Bates from working at the Sebring village water treatment plant and informing him that the agency intends to revoke his operating license. According to CBS News, the Ohio EPA had been asking Bates for months when he would alert the public.
Village manager Richard Giroux claimed that he did not know about the elevated lead levels until last week, but a letter released by the Ohio EPA showed that Giroux knew since December.
At a town hall meeting on Monday, Sebring residents expressed their frustrations. “A lot of us have kids at home, and we’re extremely afraid, and we need a mayor to stand up, be honest with us, hold people accountable and fix this problem,” one resident told city council at the meeting.
“They need to fix the problem,” resident Tonya Ludt told the AP. “Forget about the finger-pointing and blaming. Fix it.”
Schools have been closed since Friday after tests revealed that two drinking fountains at separate schools contained lead levels that exceeded the EPA standards. School officials said they have shut off the drinking fountains, and classes resumed today.
State regulators believe the water became contaminated after becoming too corrosive, causing lead pipes to leach the heavy metal into residents’ drinking water. Regulators asked the water plant to treat the water to reduce its corrosiveness.
The most recent round of testing at the homes that had elevated lead levels over the summer showed that only one still had detectable levels, Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer told the AP.
“That tells us what the village is doing to treat the water is starting to work,” she said.
Watch a clip from Fox 8 News Cleveland of the Monday town hall meeting in Sebring.
Snyder approval plummets amid Flint crisis, poll finds
Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau 5:47 p.m. EST January 27, 2016
LANSING -- Gov. Rick Snyder's popularity and job approval numbers have plummeted as a result of the Flint drinking water catastrophe, with 69% of those surveyed saying the Republican governor has handled the crisis poorly.
Though the intensity varies depending on party affiliation, giving Snyder poor marks on Flint is something Michigan voters agree on whether they are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, said Bernie Porn, president of EPIC-MRA of Lansing, which conducted the poll. It's the first statewide poll to show how the Flint crisis has affected Snyder's approval ratings.
"Snyder took a hit because of the Flint water crisis," Porn told the Free Press Wednesday.
Overall, when more than just the Flint drinking water issue is considered, only 39% say Snyder is doing a good job as governor and 58% say he is doing a poor job, according to the poll of 600 likely voters, made available exclusively to the Free Press, WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), and statewide media partners.
The last time EPIC-MRA asked voters about Snyder's performance, in August, 45% said they thought Snyder was doing a good job.
The poll, which included 30% cell phone users, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Narrowly, more voters now have an unfavorable impression of Snyder than a favorable one, 45% to 44%. In an October EPIC-MRA poll, 49% viewed Snyder favorably and 40% had an unfavorable impression of him.
"We understand that people are angry," said Snyder spokesman Dave Murray. "This crisis was the result of a failure of government at all levels -- state, local and federal. Gov. Snyder now is focused on addressing the problems and making sure that the people of Flint get the help they need now and into the future."
The good news for Snyder is that only 29% of those surveyed said he should resign from office, while 61% said he should remain. The other 10% were undecided, or refused to say.
Whether that number goes up or down likely depends on the results of ongoing investigations into how the public health crisis happened, Porn said.
June Weaver, a Northville homemaker, said she thinks Snyder is doing a great job.
"Enough with the witch hunt and let's help heal Flint, our state and our country," Weaver said Wednesday.
But Val Janowski, a retired grant writer in suburban Grand Rapids, said Snyder should resign or be removed from office over the Flint water crisis.
"I think he's definitely responsible for what happened, and I think he's dragging his feet horrendously in responding," Janowski said.
Though Snyder's numbers are down, they have not hit a record low: That happened soon after Snyder did an about-face on the right-to-work issue in December 2012 and signed bills into law making it illegal to require financial support of a union as a condition of employment. Back then, those who felt he was doing a poor job as governor climbed as high as 61%, compared to 58% in the latest poll, Porn said.
And, of course, Snyder is term-limited so he doesn't face re-election in 2018.
Of the voters who participated in the survey, 40% described themselves as Democrats, and 19% as Independents. The partisan breakdown of the October sample was almost identical.
Partisan affiliation did influence how Snyder's handling of the Flint drinking water crisis was perceived: Democrats said he was handling it poorly, 87% to 6%. Of Independents surveyed, 25% said Snyder was doing a good job handling Flint, while 69% said he was doing a poor job. And of the Republicans surveyed, 37% said Snyder was doing a good job and 49% said he was handling the crisis poorly.
When it came to whether voters have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Snyder, Republicans still approve of Snyder, 75% to 15%. Independents, who were critical of Snyder winning a second four-year term in 2014, now disapprove of Snyder, 52% to 40%. Democrats have an unfavorable impression of Snyder, 68% to 19%.
Snyder is doing much better among men, who view him favorably 50% to 40%, than among women, who have an unfavorable view of Snyder, 50% to 39%.
The governor also is doing much better among whites, who view him favorably 48% to 42%, than among blacks, who have an unfavorable view of Snyder, 65% to 16%.
Flint drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 after the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, temporarily switched its source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to water from the Flint River, treated at the Flint water treatment plant.
DEQ Director Dan Wyant resigned in December after acknowledging the DEQ failed to require the addition of needed corrosion-control chemicals to the corrosive Flint River water. As a result, lead leached from pipes, joints and fixtures, contaminating the drinking water for an unknown number of Flint households. Lead causes permanent brain damage in children, as well as other health problems.
For months, state officials downplayed reports of lead in the water and a spike in the lead levels in the blood of Flint children, before acknowledging a problem Oct. 1. Since then, Snyder has faced repeated questions about when he first knew there was too much lead in Flint's drinking water.
Brandon Dillon, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, criticized Snyder for using corporate donations to his non-profit corporations to hire public relations experts, instead of focusing more on fixing Flint's water problems.
“The people of Michigan have witnessed Gov. Snyder’s incompetent and negligent handling of the Flint water crisis, along with his penchant for operating under a shroud of secrecy, and they’re growing more tired of it by the day,” Dillon said in a news release.
by seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:07 am
State Workers in Flint Got Clean Water Over a Year Ago
According to documents, Michigan officials provided coolers and bottled water for government offices several months before a lead advisory went out to city residents.
by seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:17 am
How Rick Snyder doomed Flint from the start: Tax cuts for the ultra-rich, poison for the poor
The Michigan governor faces new questions about dark money nonprofits he used to help "transform Michigan"
by seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 29, 2016 1:20 pm
The Refugees of Flint's Water Crisis
Thursday, 28 January 2016 00:00
By Michelle Chen, CultureStrike | Report
Fight back against the spread of misinformation perpetuated by the mainstream media. Help Truthout grow stronger by making a tax-deductible donation today!
After being slowly poisoned by their government, the people of Flint, Michigan are finally getting some relief. But like the water itself, the crisis is spreading steadily and converging with an environmental crisis of global proportions.
Flint has been systematically immersed in toxins and disease in their tap water since the unelected government unilaterally switched the mostly black city to an unsafe water supply. Some communities face another layer of crisis as the toxic water table intersects with daunting barriers of culture, class, language, and legal status.
According to Remezcla and local news reports, "as many as 1,000 undocumented immigrants are afraid to head to water distribution centers because they don't want to be deported." While undocumented immigrants are often wary of interaction with authorities, a new wave of political terror is converging with public health catastrophe, with Obama's latest deportation drive against Central American asylum seekers - including many women and children - whose pleas for relief have been rejected by the immigration authorities. For these households, the noxious, contaminated swill running from their taps is one of many hazards they contend with as they try to carve out a small sanctuary for themselves in a strange land. As relief starts to trickle into Flint, the authorities continue to put up barriers to aid - reflecting a familiar pattern of officials regarding the poor with mistrust even in times of crisis.
"I'm not here legally. And I'm always scared that they'll arrest me, and then deport me," said a women who was only identified as Lucia. And now that she knows what it takes to get water at a distribution center, she's not likely to go back. "I got close to see what they were giving out, and it was water. And the first thing they asked me for was my license."
Fusion reported that while the government has not instituted a formal policy requiring identification for water assistance, fear produces a social ripple effect.
"I went to ask for water from the fire station, and they asked for my social security number, so I left," said Estella Arias, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. "I feel bad that I can't get the help… I don't want to expose my kids to lead."
State officials say that as of Friday night, they are no longer turning anyone away for lack of identification, and were only asking in the first place in order to track where their resources are going.
But undocumented people here say that policy is not being implemented across the board. Officials at some fire stations simply hand anyone who walks in a case of water, while others demand identification.
"Once word of mouth ripples through the community that you have to have ID, it's too late," said Susan Reed, the managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
Basic awareness is lacking among linguistically isolated Spanish-speaking households. An immigrant family might typically refuse to open the door to National Guard relief workers, Fusion reported, and "officers leave a flyer with information about how to get free water delivered - but it's only in English. The directions for using some of the free water filters, and for when to replace them, are also only in English." Meanwhile, many families shut themselves indoors to avoid unwanted encounters with authorities.
Maria, an undocumented immigrant whose body has erupted into a rash (likely water related, she says, but she has no health insurance so she may never get a diagnosis or treatment), remarked to Fusion, '"In Mexico we drink the water all the time and nothing happens. It's crazy that this is happening in America."
Other more established immigrants in the Flint area may still be endangered by social barriers. One community activist quoted in Arab American News said that members of the region's large Arab immigrant community tend to rely on ethnic media and so have limited awareness of the water crisis. Moreover, 'Some Arabs view the United States as a corruption-free country when compared wth the untrustworthy governments of their home countries" and so might "trust the government too much" when it gives false reassurances of water safety as Michigan officials did for months.
The US Human Rights Network cited Flint's water crisis, and the subsequent political crisis since the official declaration of the State of Emergency by Michigan's Governor, as a prime example of the kind of water apartheid that strafes many low-income, indigenous, and migrant communities across the country. Similar crises are afflicting many other regions, including mine waste ravaging the waterways of Navajo populations in New Mexico and mass water shut-offs on poor households in Baltimore, in a landscape of environmental racism where lead contamination is as epidemic as police violence.
The denial of water, too, is a form of violence - the act of slow social strangulation, particularly for those who come from elsewhere to resettle in promised land, only to find that a basic resource like water might actually poison them. Another paradox surrounding the disaster is that a key driver of global migration is water crisis linked to climate change. Iraqi refugees have been embroiled in the tumult of drought and water insecurity, while climate-driven pollution, agricultural devastation and health crises are rocking Latin America and displacing communities across the Global South. Flint is an eddy in a worldwide stormfront.
The story of Flint's migrants embodies the cascade of tragedy they face after misplacing trust in their adopted country. For people facing deportation, deprivation, and now, contamination, the danger lurking in the water reveals a deep social undercurrent. In some ways, water is the element that embodies the possibility of life beyond borders, flowing free across divided landscapes. Social movements treat water as a symbol of solidarity and justice unbound. Yet water can also be opaque, frightfully scarce, and tainted; in Flint, it is a public trust betrayed.
by backtoiam » Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:05 pm
6 Cities in Michigan Have Even Higher Levels of Lead than Flint
Posted on January 29, 2016 by # 1 NWO Hatr
The Anti-Media – by Carey Wedler
As the nation rightly focuses on Flint’s ongoing water crisis, other cities in the state of Michigan face even higher levels of lead contamination. The alarming pervasiveness of potentially toxic drinking water extends across the United States.
The Detroit News reports that “Elevated blood-lead levels are seen in a higher percentage of children in parts of Grand Rapids, Jackson, Detroit, Saginaw, Muskegon, Holland and several other cities, proof that the scourge of lead has not been eradicated despite decades of public health campaigns and hundreds of millions of dollars spent to find and eliminate it.”
Of over 7,000 children tested in the Highland Park and Hamtramck areas of Detroit in 2014, 13.5 percent tested positive for lead. Among four zip codes in Grand Rapids, one in ten children had lead in their blood. In Adrian and south-central Michigan, more than 12 percent of 640 children tested had positive results.
These overall numbers are higher than Flint’s, where Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha found lead in up to 6.3 percent of children in the highest-risk areas;while The Guardian reported Dr. Hanna-Attisha has also said the rate is as high at 15 percent in certain “hot spots,” the size of those samples was not listed. Even so, the overall figures across Michigan are lower than in previous years. In 2012, children tested across Michigan had lead in their blood at a rate of 4.5 percent, about five times less than the rate ten years prior, which reached an alarming 25 percent. In spite of the decrease in recent years, however, thousands of children in Michigan are still affected.
“In 2013, that level sank to 3.9 percent and fell again to 3.5 percent in 2014. But that is still 5,053 children under age 6 who tested positive in 2014,” theDetroit News explained. “Each had lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter. (Though no amount is considered safe, 5 micrograms is the threshold that experts say constitutes a ‘much higher’ level than most children.)” One Detroit zip code had a rate of 20.8 percent of children who tested positive in 2014, and 20.3 percent the following year.
The outrage in Flint is especially warranted because of the pronounced effects of lead on children. Lead, a known toxin, is associated with bothphysical and mental ailments, and according to one Detroit teacher, has harmed the cognitive abilities of students.
Kieya Morrison, a veteran kindergarten teacher, who now teaches preschool, described a recent student known to have elevated levels of blood in her system. The girl experienced difficulties grasping simple cognitive tasks, like differentiating between a triangle and a square. “She had cognitive problems. She had trouble processing things,” Morrison said. “She could not retain any of the information.” The University of Michigan recently found a link between lead in children and lower academic test scores.
Michigan’s lead problem “…is still an issue. It’s not going away,” said Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
In fact, lead levels are elevated across the United States. Anti-Media reported this week on Sebring, Ohio, where a similar lead crisis spawned official cover-ups. For years, discoveries of lead in public water supplies have made headlines, even if these finding were not national news. In 2008, the Los Angeles school district’s water supply was found to have levels of lead hundreds of times higher than the allowable. In 2015, officials could not guarantee they had adequately purified the water. In another example, in 2010, New York City tested 222 older homes known to have lead pipes, and found 14 percent had lead levels higher than the allowable limit.
Vox noted that in 2014, “Nine counties nationwide told the CDC that 10 percent or more of their lead poisoning tests came back positive. Four of them are in Louisiana, two in Alabama, and the rest scattered across West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Oklahoma.”
The problem extends beyond anecdotal cases or any specific region. As Huffington Post reports, millions of lead pipes — like the ones that contaminated the water in Flint — are still in service across the United States:
“There are roughly 7.3 million lead service lines in the U.S., according to an estimate by the Environmental Protection Agency, down from 10.5 million in 1988. Service lines are the pipes connecting water mains to people’s houses. They’re mostly found in the Midwest and Northeast.”
Jerry Paulson, emeritus professor of pediatrics and environmental health at George Washington University, told the Detroit News how common the problem is:
“This is a situation that has the potential to occur in however many places around the country there are lead pipes,“ he explained. “Unless and until those pipes are removed, those communities are at some degree of risk.”
Paul Haan of the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, an organization that works to eliminate household hazards to improve children’s health, warns that the levels of lead in Michigan children’s blood continue to rise, citing weekly statewide reports from pediatricians. In spite of his efforts to help reduce contaminants, he pointed out a dismal flaw in the process:
“The problem is,” he said, “we’re still using kids as lead detectors.”
http://theantimedia.org/6-cities-michig ... ead-flint/
by 82_28 » Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:18 pm
News of the poisoned water crisis in Flint has reached a wide audience around the world. The basics are now known: the Republican governor, Rick Snyder, nullified the free elections in Flint, deposed the mayor and city council, then appointed his own man to run the city. To save money, they decided to unhook the people of Flint from their fresh water drinking source, Lake Huron, and instead, make the public drink from the toxic Flint River. When the governor’s office discovered just how toxic the water was, they decided to keep quiet about it and covered up the extent of the damage being done to Flint’s residents, most notably the lead affecting the children, causing irreversible and permanent brain damage. Citizen activists uncovered these actions, and the governor now faces growing cries to resign or be arrested.
Here are ten things that you probably don’t know about this crisis because the media, having come to the story so late, can only process so much. But if you live in Flint or the State of Michigan as I do, you know all to well that what the greater public has been told only scratches the surface.
by seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 29, 2016 10:04 pm
EPA: High lead levels in Flint exceed filters' rating
Matthew Dolan, Detroit Free Press 9 p.m. EST January 29, 2016
Flint water lead level announcement
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Local, state and federal officials Friday evening urged all Flint residents to get their water tested for lead after recent samples exceeded levels that can be effectively treated by water filters handed out to residents.
"It is essential that all Flint residents have the water in their homes tested as soon as possible," Gov. Rick Snyder said in a news release Friday. "Please make it a priority for your family and encourage your friends and neighbors to obtain testing kits as well. The kits are available free of charge at the water resource sites within Flint fire stations."
Pregnant women and children under 6 should continue to drink only bottled water at least until the additional testing at the affected homes with elevated lead levels is complete, according to federal officials.
Water testing kits are available at City Hall and all Flint fire stations. Residents do not need to test their own water. Officials said they may fill up the testing bottle and return it to where it was obtained. Residents with questions can call the United Way's helpline at 2-1-1.
The disclosure on Friday of higher lead levels at 26 sites come months after the city switched back to the Detroit water system after a disastrous change to using Flint River water. The original switch in mid-2014 was followed almost immediately by complaints from residents about discolored, pungent water that had caused a number of ailments. Local and state officials insisted for months the water was safe to drink but reversed course after independent testing discovered unsafe lead levels throughout the system believed to be caused by leaching from lead piping.
"Understandably, residents here are scared," Dr. Nicole Lurie, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said at the news conference.
In the recent testing overseen by state and federal environmental protection officials, extremely high lead level levels were found in 26 samples of more than 4,000 collected. The samples had lead levels that exceeded 150 parts per billion. The lead filters distributed to residents and business in Flint by officials has a certified rating by the NSF International to treat water with up to 150 parts of lead per billion.
The 26 samples from unfiltered water collected since late December from around the city ranged between 153 parts per billion and more than 4,000 parts per billion. If tap water contains lead at levels exceeding action level by the federal Environmental Protection Agency of 15 parts per billion, the federal Centers for Disease Control recommends taking action to minimize exposure to the lead in the water, although no level of lead is considered safe.
There was no concentrated area with spiked lead levels in Flint in the most recent round of testing, officials said. All of the affected residents have been notified by health officials.
"So this obviously raises concerns," Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said at the news conference. "While the number of homes tested is still small, there is still concern, and I feel it is important for the residents of Flint to hear these residents and hear from experts about what these results mean."
Federal officials they are not completely sure why recent samples came back with lead levels well above what can be handled by home filters. "We'll be doing more testing this whole week and test week to figure out why," Lurie said
Despite the findings, environmental officials did not call on residents in Flint to stop using the filters to treat water. Instead, they said the filters should still work to treat the majority of water, which has been tested to be below 150 parts per billion. They asked everyone who has not had their water tested to have it tested immediately.
Test results usually take about three days, officials said.
Lurie said that Dr. Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech lead expert who had help confirm the extent of Flint's original water crisis, told federal officials today that the filters being used in Flint may actually be able to treat water with levels above 150 parts per billion based on a similar, early crisis over lead in water in Washington, D.C.
The newly discovered elevated lead levels do not mean that the filters are not performing as expected. "They are performing well," she said. "But it does mean we need to do additional testing at homes above 150 parts per billion.
Officials added that other experts have found that the filters may be able to treat water with lead above 150 parts per billion, even though the filters are not rated to be effective above that level.
Flint is under a state of emergency after highly corrosive water in the Flint River was temporarily used as the city's drinking water source. Experts have voiced some concern about the use of home water filter devices because the filters need to replaced on a regular basis.
Local officials said Friday they were encouraged by the quick turnaround of the discovery of elevated lead levels and disclosure to elected leaders and the public.
“Today’s announcement reaffirms that having EPA, CDC and HHS personnel on the ground in Flint is leading to a more transparent and effective response, and more accurate information for city residents," state Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said in a news release:"Many questions still remain regarding the state's ability to manage this crisis and only highlights the need for a continued and amplified federal role.”
CDC is the Centers for Disease Control and HHS stands for Health and Human Services.
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