DEQ Takes Blame On Flint Water; Ananich Unforgiving
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) top official today admitted his department
mishandled the city of Flint's water crisis, pointing to departmental issues with experience and protocol in
corrosion control efforts.
Director Dan WYANT announced in a statement that staff used a federal protocol they believed was
appropriate. Those testing steps “would have been correct for a city less than 50,000 people, but not for a city of
nearly 100,000,” he said.
In response to that finding, DEQ Chief Deputy Jim SYGO was named the interim chief of the department's
Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance. Liane Shekter SMITH, the former chief of DEQ's Office
of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, will be reassigned and “given duties as assigned,” Wyant said.
The information came to light last week through a combination of an internal review and during the collection
of correspondence between the DEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency, Wyant said. The results of that
correspondence were first published in The Detroit News.
Gov. Rick SNYDER's administration has also called for an independent third party review, plans for which are
actively underway, spokesperson Sara WURFEL said. Wyant said the department also plans to continue its
own internal review, and that more action would come as additional findings come to light.
Public furor over the water quality began shortly after the city switched its water supply from Detroit's water
system to the Flint River in 2014, but reached critical mass in recent weeks after a study found lead levels in
children's blood have increased since the city switched off of Detroit's water supply.
Today, the Flint lawmaker leading the charge for immediate action on the crisis took a verbal hammer to the
state and federal bureaucracy for allowing the problem to occur and continue.
Senate Minority Leader Jim ANANICH (D-Flint) said it remains unclear whether the mistakes made by the
state were deliberate misapplications of the law, or negligence. Neither of those possibilities is acceptable, he
said.
"What is clear from several, now available documents is that certain MDEQ and EPA staff chose to protect their
reputations rather than the health of the citizens and children of Flint," Ananich said.
In a follow-up statement, Ananich added that the Legislature should have a robust role in any investigation and
in “ensuring those responsible for Flint's water crisis are held accountable.”
Wyant said he was convinced the staff involved in the program believed they were doing their job right, and
that the state took appropriate steps once it became clear there could be a health threat to Flint residents.
“They were operating under historical protocols they believed to be correct, and they weren't,” Wyant said. “We
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are fully committed to a full internal and external review and want to make those findings absolutely
transparent.”
Wyant's announcement concluded that the department will “learn from this” and that those who brought the
issue to light deserve credit. We will make necessary changes to see to it that our program becomes a national
leader in public health protection."
“All who brought this issue to the department deserve credit for bringing it forward,” he added. “Lead is a
serious issue, particularly for young people, and we take it seriously.”
Michigan Democratic Party Chair BrandonDLILLON said the department's botched handling of the situation
was less a question of experience and protocol, but rather one of competency and judgment.
Dillon called for Wyant and everyone else involved in the decision making-process regarding Flint's drinking
water should be immediately removed, arguing that a pledge to correct procedures moving forward does not
negate the negative effects of mistakes already made.
“You may be able to fix the problem of Flint's drinking water going forward, but the damage done to the health
of thousands of Flint's children is irreversible,” Dillon said in a statement.
“For months, warnings from the EPA about the safety of Flint's water system, sent directly to DEQ, were
repeatedly ignored,” he added. “That's not just a glitch in the system, it's an institutional failure caused by
incompetence and a lack of leadership.”
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Flint Mayoral Election Rests On Who Residents Blame For Its Water
(FLINT) -- The Department of Environment Quality (DEQ) admission of fault in the Flint water crisis may
have come today, but in the city, which is two weeks from a municipal election, the blame game is far from
over.
Incumbent mayor Dayne WALLING seized upon the statement from DEQ chief DanWYANT as validation
both of the state's full culpability, and the city -- especially his administration's -- innocence.
"This was the state's fault," Walling told reporters today. "Flint was relying on the information provided to
MDEQ, and clearly that information was wrong."
His opponent in the race, Karen WEAVER, a clinical psychologist running for office for the first time, did not
seem to stand much chance against Walling emerging from the August primary. She has significantly less
funding and fewer major endorsements.
But the attention fixed on Flint's water woes throughout the state and nation has revealed a pivotal, albeit tragic,
opportunity for her campaign.
For Weaver, this is the issue that will define her candidacy -- and the outcome at the polls Nov. 3. She insists
the Mayor was fully aware of the dangers of Flint's river water and Walling is falsely casting his administration
as an ingénue.
"T want people to know the Mayor knew," Weaver said. "We know he knew this information a while ago. He
had access to this information back in the summertime. He knew it, and he covered it up because he wanted to
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get through this campaign."
Weaver contests Walling's claim that he was unaware the city and DEQ were not properly treating the city's
water.
"He knew that it's the law for a city to have corrosion control for a city that's 50,000 or more," she said. "He
knew it and his staff knew it, and he chose to remain quiet... . The buck stops with him and the city."
Former Lt. Gov. John CHERRY, who lives in the area and follows local politics, said "because the issue's so
huge," "anything could go" in the upcoming election.
"In the end, the things that perhaps are not accurate about what has transpired isn't going to make any difference
in the election," Cherry said. "People are going to believe what they're going to believe."
Flint's mayor is full time position that pays $91,801 a year.
Weaver emerged from the August primary on top of two other challengers but behind Walling, and her
resources appeared paltry in comparison.
The most recent campaign filings reported Walling had emerged from the primary with $11,796, after raising a
total of more than $146,000. Weaver, meanwhile, had less than $200 left after raising a total of $23,742.
Weaver did not declare her candidacy until February of this year, though.
Still, in the period the filings covered, from mid-July to mid-August, she reportedly out-raised Walling. She
gathered $7,680 where Walling only managed $4,295.
She said the prominence of Flint's water crisis has been an inadvertent boon to her fundraising efforts, but was
loathe to reveal much more about her campaign's financial outlook.
"It has helped me, because people are angry and disappointed," Weaver said. "Because politics have been put
over the lives of the people, the health and the well-being of the community. The children of this community
have been impacted, so people are coming out."
In the next two weeks, both intend to canvass each of Flint's neighborhoods and work the phones. Weaver
estimated she has assembled about 150 volunteers, while Walling put his number at about 200 in total. He said
he has specific targets for each of Flint's nine wards and Weaver declined to name specific strategies for
outreach.
Their endorsements, though, could not be more dissimilar.
Walling t ‘s from the local AFL-CIO, which comprises a number of smaller labor
unions, a ig g trade unions as well as the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce. He also
has endorsements from the chair and vice-chair of the Genesee County Commission. Some community activists
also back him.
Weaver, however, has endorsement from associations representing Flint's police officers and fire fighters; the
former had previously endorsed Walling. She also has more than 50 pastors backing her, including some of the
most prominent in Flint, in addition to a litany of community and neighborhood leaders.
The United Auto Workers has remained neutral in the election. Walling said the union interviewed both
candidates and came to the decision recently. This represents a change for the union, which chose no candidates
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in 2007, but did back him in 2009 and 2011.
Flint's nine-seat City Council is split between the candidates. The president, Joshua FREEMAN, and
councilmember Jacqueline POPLAR have come out for Walling. Weaver has secured endorsements from
councilmembers EricMAYS, Monica GALLOWAY and HerberyWINFREY.
Walling, said he would aim to emphasize his track record in the run-up to Election Day. Key to this will be his
ability to distance himself from the water crisis.
"We have a comprehensive plan, we have a good team in place, and I'm asking voters to look carefully at my
record," Walling said. "I hope they'll see the experience and the ethics that I bring to this job and give me
another four years."
Weaver's success appears to rest on her ability to mobilize the residents who associate Walling's administration
with contaminated water. This morning a small handful of them gathered outside the city's municipal building
to call for Walling's resignation. Although they weren't part of Weaver's campaign, they all intend to back her in
the election.
Arthur WOODSON, a community activist and former nuclear, biological and chemical specialist for the U.S.
military, has been active throughout the crisis. Although he has his own technically intricate arguments about
Walling's culpability, he said the health effects Flint residents showed to officials after the switch to river water
in April 2014 and the period of inaction that followed is damning enough.
"They knew back then," Woodson said. "(DEQ) knew about it, and Flint knew about it, so all of them need to
go. W
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