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 There were failures on all levels of government, including the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a report from the task force
said. However, the report highlighted failures of state agencies,
especially the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ),
and said the state was "fundamentally accountable" for what
happened.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been criticized for the state's
poor handling of a crisis that garnered national headlines.
"It was a mixture of ignorance, incompetence and arrogance by many
decision makers that created the toxic and tragic situation," Chris
Kolb, task force co-chair and president of the Michigan
Environmental Council, a coalition of non-profit groups, said at a
press conference in Flint.
The 116-page report included 36 findings and 44 recommendations to
be taken so the state can avoid a similar crisis in the future,
including fixing the state emergency manager law to compensate for
the loss of local government control.
Under the direction of a state-appointed emergency manager, Flint
switched water supplies to the Flint River from Detroit's system in
2014 to save money.
The corrosive river water leached lead, a toxic substance that can
damage the nervous system, from the city's water pipes. Flint
switched back to the Detroit system last October.
The task force said MDEQ should receive primary blame for the
crisis, citing its failure to use corrosion control chemicals in
Flint's water system to prevent the lead leaching, and then
resisting calls from others to take action after the lead poisoning
was discovered.
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"They missed the boat completely," Kolb said.
Michigan this week outlined a plan involving several state agencies
to help the city recover from the crisis. It included programs to
address water infrastructure shortcomings and the health of children
who have tested for high lead levels in their blood, expand support
in Flint schools and boost economic development for the city.
The crisis has led to calls for Snyder to resign. Last week, several
Democratic lawmakers criticized Snyder at a hearing about Flint, a
working class, mostly African American city of 100,000 northwest of
Detroit.
The crisis has led to several lawsuits in state and federal courts,
and federal and state investigations.
“This report is a damning indictment of Governor Snyder’s philosophy
of running government like a business," U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a
Democrat from Maryland, said after the report was released.
Snyder said many of the task force recommendations were already
being implemented by the state. "This is a problem that I've made a
commitment to fix," he said.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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