F Flint Water Crisis Public Archive

Richard Benzie

Acting Chief of Field Operations Section, DEQ, Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance

1,323

Emails

Oct 2004–Jan 2016

Archive range

1,323 emails found.

RE: Available talking points?

From
Richard Benzie
To
Beth.messer@epa.ohio.gov
Beth, j have been out of the office for almost two weeks and am digging my way through ernails. Sorry for the delay in responding. We do not have @ lot of public inforrnation available yet as we ere waiting for seme final reports from various oversight eniifies, both internal and external. However, we did produce a FAQ document that was made public about 6 weeks ago and | have attached a copy. W you have additional questions, call me. Richard Richard Benzie, FLE., Chief Field Operations Section Office of Drinking Vater and Municipal Assistance, MDEQ 517-284-6512

Available talking points?

From
Seth. Ohio. Gov
To
Richard Benzie
Hi Rich, | hope you had a great holiday. Our director has asked us some questions about Flint. Does your office have a written talking point/summary about Flint that you can share? Thanks, Beth This message was secured by ZixCarn™. xxxEND_PAGE:deq21_b545_1546_1546_1

RE: MI Joint Evaluation and PWSS semi-annual call

See all emails with these participants
Thank you, Kris! Richard said he'd check other options, bit sounds like you just cid-—-Jim Syga is open-— good! i just re-checked our priority participants—-Torm Foy, Rita Bair, Tinka Hyde, Tim Henry, and everyone is stl open! So let's plan Tues Feb 9, tom-2:30pm CST: Zpn-3:S0pm EST. If you can block out this time for Jim Sygo, that would be goad. Dennis Wychocki, from cur office will send out a formal invitation. We'll start discussion of agenda topics, and get that te you by mid-January. Jennifer

FW: MI Joint Evaluation and PWSS semi-annual call

See all emails with these participants
Importance: High think this request to search for sorne dates was lest in the holiday shuffle. Perhans you all could search for some dates? This is what i sent on Dec 9. think i have all the State people on the list above that should attend this combined call--except for Jim Syga, 50 someone will check his schedule? The 3 dates here that work best for us, including Tinka Hyde, our Division Director; and Torn Poy, are: feb LG: if-noon, or l-3om CST {best date} xxxEND_PAGE:deq21_b024_0033_0036_1 Feb 9: 1-3porn CST (we have a branch meeting at that time, but we can re-arrange if this date/time works best for you all} Do any of these dates/times work? Hf not, perhaps you can propose some dates/times the 3/4" weeks in February. Thanks! Jennifer

FOS Update

From
Richard Benzie
To
Jon Bloemker , Scott Conradson , Sherri Howell , Tammy Peterman
See all emails with these participants
(DEQ);Robinson, Krista (DEQ);Slater, Brad (DEQ);Thurston, Brian (DEQ);Bolf, Michael (DEQ);Dehtiar, Luke (DEQ);Einhardt, Nancy (DEQ);Esparsa, Brian (DEQ);Klein, Jeremy (DEQ);Lachance, Amy (DEQ);Sarkipato, Ernest (DEQ);Walstrom, Kimberly (DEQ);Bishop, Heather (DEQ);Chooi, Wood (DEQ);Kraenzlein, Mark (DEQ);Reyes, Katelyn (DEQ);Wozniak, Gary (DEQ);Gotham, Daryl (DEQ);Kaiser, Rebecca (DEQ);London, Bob (DEQ);Peterman, Tammy (DEQ);Reinke, Joseph (DEQ);Bridges, Jeriesha (DEQ);Donaldson, Kristina (DEQ);Islam, Abuzoha (DEQ);Jackson, Samantha (DEQ),Johnson, Stephanie (DEQ);Lopez, Amber (DEQ);Stieb, Melody (DEQ);Berndt, Jason (DEQ);Comage, Renee (DEQ);Fisher, Brant (DEQ);Koenigsknecht, John (DEQ);Kukuk, Wayne (DEQ);Ostrander, Debbie (DEQ);Philip, Kris (DEQ);Schmidt, Scott (DEQ);Shekter, Jean (DEQ);Antil, Jeffrey (DEQ);Brennan, Patrick (DEQ);Busch, Stephen (DEQ);Drake, Jerry (DEQ);DuMont, Ralph (DEQ);Rennaker, Joanne (DEQ);Beauchamp, Karen (DEQ);Bushong, Kathleen (DEQ);Clark, John (DEQ);Pascoe, Doug (DEQ);Swenor, Scott (DEQ);Thomas, Chuck (DEQ);Wolfe, Rob (DEQ);Gohlke, Holly (DEQ);DuMont, Ralph (DEQ);Joseph, Mark (DEQ);Prysby, Mike (DEQ);Rosenthal, Adam (DEQ);Skinker, Bethel (DEQ);Swendsen, Kurt (DEQ);Graham, Lois (DEQ);Deyoung, David (DEQ);Remus, Matt (DEQ)

Draft Notes: ODWMA Managers Meeting

See all emails with these participants
Please see Luke’s draft notes -- attached, and provide cornments to me by 1/8/16. | will finalize and place ori the Lansing drive, Thanks, Army Arny Lachance Grand Rapids District Coordinator and Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo District Supervisor Office of Brinking Water and Municipal Assistance Michigan Department of Emvronmental Cuallty Work Cell xxxEND_PAGE:deq18_b300_3141_3141_1

State Programs for Lead Sampling in Schools

See all emails with these participants
Jim, This topic was on the agenda of the Region 5 States conference call yesterday. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin do not have active school sampling programs for lead. Only Minnesota has an on-going program, and it is being conducted through their Department of Education even though their drinking water program is in their Department of Public Health. Minnesota said they would circulate additional information about this program to the other states. | asked if we could get an estimate of the resources they expend, which we may have to obtain in a follow-up conversation. Minnesota did say they even provide funding for lead abatement measures, which include dealing with corrosion issues in schools that are connected to municipal water (fixture replacements, etc.) as well as schools that are classified as noncommunity public water systems (installing corrosion control treatment). | will circulate the additional information when it is distributed, or contact Minnesota directly if it doesn’t arrive soon. Richard xxxEND_PAGE:deq02_b419_3746_3746_1

State Programs for Lead Sampling in Schools

See all emails with these participants
Date: Friday, December 18, 2015 12:01:15 PM Jim, This topic was on the agenda of the Region 5 States conference call yesterday. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin do not have active school sampling programs for lead. Only Minnesota has an on-going program, and it is being conducted through their Department of Education even though their drinking water program is in their Department of Public Health. Minnesota said they would circulate additional information about this program to the other states. | asked if we could get an estimate of the resources they expend, which we may have to obtain in a follow-up conversation. Minnesota did say they even provide funding for lead abatement measures, which include dealing with corrosion issues in schools that are connected to municipal water (fixture replacements, etc.) as well as schools that are classified as noncommunity public water systems (installing corrosion control treatment). | will circulate the additional information when it is distributed, or contact Minnesota directly if it doesn’t arrive soon. Richard xxxEND_PAGE:deq02_b448_3792_3792_1

RE: Drinking Water and Soil Cleanup Criterion for Lead

See all emails with these participants
Date: Thursday, December 17, 2015 10:19:54 AM Christine, | think this issue needs to be discussed and decided at the Senior Management Team Level. We are not toxicologists in ODWMA and we rely upon EPA and those of you in the department that have this expertise to provide guidance. It has been our position that there is no safe level of lead exposure, so setting a cleanup criteria based on minimizing the potential for exposure to the extent possible is appropriate. However, with a drinking water standard that is NOT a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) but essentially a Treatment Technique that utilizes a statistical analysis of lead results from a sampling pool of targeted, high risk customers and requires that no more than 10% of these results exceed 15 parts per billion will be even more difficult to message should a cleanup criterion be established much lower than this Action Level. Your proposed Part 201 drinking water criterion of 1 ppb may be appropriate. If so, we (DEQ) will just have to develop the proper messaging to explain the difference between drinking water standards, especially Action Levels and Treatment Techniques, and cleanup criteria. Thus far, it has been difficult for the public to comprehend that 15 ppb is not a MCL. Richard Richard Benzie, P.E., Chief Field Operations Section Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, MDEQ 517-284-6512

RE: Mislabeled attachment?

See all emails with these participants
Steve is going to call Mr. Garnbill, it may be that it was less than forraal communication in terms of the original decision, as the city already had approwal to use the river as deemed necessary by circumstances, There were one or more construction permits issued to the city to make modifications to the treatment plant in preparation that were subsequent to the city’s decision to use the river until the KWA pineline was complete, so we could point to a CONSTRUCTION permit application as an official docurnent if one is needed — but the city did not need our “approval” to begin using the river as they already had historical rights and authorities to da so.

Drinking Water and Soil Cleanup Criterion for Lead

See all emails with these participants
We have updated the residential lead direct contact criterion to 200 ppm in soil. This is a draft value which is subject to change. The criterion is generated by the EPA Lead Biokinetic Uptake Model which considers exposure via drinking water, soil, ambient air, and diet. The associated drinking water concentration is 1 ppb. Does the use of a Part 201 drinking water criterion of 1 ppb present you with any heart burn? Thanks for your input! Christine Flage Toxicology Unit Manager Remediation and Redevelopment Division Department of Environmental Quality P.O. Box 30426 Lansing, MI 48909-7926 Phone #: 517-284-5098 flagac@michigan.gov xxxEND_PAGE:deq02_b297_3502_3502_1

Drinking Water and Soil Cleanup Criterion for Lead

See all emails with these participants
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2015 5:18:09 PM We have updated the residential lead direct contact criterion to 200 ppm in soil. This is a draft value which is subject to change. The criterion is generated by the EPA Lead Biokinetic Uptake Model which considers exposure via drinking water, soil, ambient air, and diet. The associated drinking water concentration is 1 ppb. Does the use of a Part 201 drinking water criterion of 1 ppb present you with any heart burn? Thanks for your input! Christine Flage Toxicology Unit Manager Remediation and Redevelopment Division Department of Environmental Quality P.O. Box 30426 Lansing, MI 48909-7926 Phone #: 517-284-5098 flagac@michigan.gov xxxEND_PAGE:deq02_b054_2116_2116_1

RE: Ticket #23002-490657 Response Sent

See all emails with these participants
Hello, It is my contention that you have grossly embellished about the water quality in Genesee County; particularly Flint. The response submitted below is prior to the stark discovery that federal laws were violated. It's plain to see that funds have been misappropriated resulting in harm to residents and their families. In the correspondence, below, you have minimized the problem and diverted the blame to individual residents. Considering the public broadcast about our water equality, the culprits are not the residents, but the officials that are designated to ensure the quality of water. Thank you, Sheila

RE: DWRF Timeline

See all emails with these participants
Richard is correct, what I did not mention is per the statute there are a litany of items that must be in the project plan, including a description of the existing waterworks problems and needs, the severity and extent of water supply problems or public health problems and an examination of system needs for the next 20 years. If any of the required items are not in the project plan we cannot rank them on the list for funding in FY 17. http://www. legislature.mi. 1faxihjObvohlka2gndl mileg.aspx? Kelly Greew @ 517.284.5409

Showing 1-25 of 1,323

...