Correspondence between

Paul, Thanks for the inquiry. Most of these questions regard issues presently before the Governor's independent after action review panel. We dont want to get in front of that review. With the review group taking a close look al the past, the DEQ is now focused on present and future challenges related to Implementing the Governor's 10-point plan. To your final question, the department went tnrough OTME to confirm that the reply to Ms. Walters was sent ta her email address and received by that address. | can forward it if you need to see IL b Brad Wurfel Communications Director, Michigan Department of Environmental Cuaiity PPI icell}

Hi Brad: | am working on an update/wrap-up on the Flint water issue. | have a few questions and | am hoping you can provide answers by the end of the day Tuesday. | am also copying two DEQ officials referenced in the questions, in case they want to answer directly. The questions are based on e-mails obtained through FOIA by Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards, and by the Michigan ACLU. 1/ Have any DEQ officials been re-assigned or disciplined in relation to the Flint drinking water issue, other than Liane Shekter Smith? 2/ Why did Stephen Busch say in a Feb. 27 e-mail to the EPA that Flint had “an optimized corrosion control program” when in fact Flint had no corrosion control program? 3/ On June 25, Adam Rosenthal of the DEQ's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance sent an e-mail about the water samples to Michael Glasgow, a utilities administrator with the City of Flint. "Just wanted to remind you/confirm that Flint is on track for a few items," Rosenthal wrote in the e-mail. 1 xxxEND_PAGE:executiveofficeemails20_b1266_3200_3201_1 "We hope you have 61 more lead/copper samples collected and sent to the lab by 6/30/15, and that they are will be (sic) below the AL (action level) for lead," the e-mail said. "As of now with 39 results, Flint's 90th percentile is over the AL for lead." Was Rosenthal encouraging Flint to collect samples that would be below the action level for lead? Many people are reading his e-mail that way. Is there any reason why | should not? 4/ Why was the DEQ strict in 2015 about disqualifying the sample with a high reading from the home of LeeAnne Walters, for the stated reason that she used a water filter, but not strict in disqualifying other samples for other reasons that could have been used, such as that they were not among the 100 homes that were sampled in 2014, or that they did not come from homes at high risk for lead (for example the homes on Flushing Road that had received a new water main in 2007?) Why is it that of the homes sampled in 2014, only homes that had tested below the AL for lead were sampled again in 2015 and none of the homes that had sampled above the AL for lead in 2014 were sampled again in 2015? Were the samples being cherry picked, as some have suggested? 5/ LeeAnne Walters says she never received a promised letter or email that was to follow up with her

That’s not much lead time, Paul. We'll do what we can with this. What’s your deadline for response? Brad Wurfel Communications Director, Michigan Department of Environmental Gualty [email protected] 517-230-8006 (ceil)

It’s only three basic questions, Brad. | just gave you some extra background and context. 5 p.m.?

Hi Brad/Angela: | am writing a story for Friday’s paper about former Flint Mayor James Sharp, Jr. calling for federal investigations and more comprehensive outreach efforts to contact and test those who may have drank Flint water containing unsafe levels of lead. Sharp, who was Flint mayor from 1983 to 1987, also has another somewhat unique perspective on the issue of contaminated drinking water. He was a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune in the 1950s, where it was later determined drinking water was contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals such as the dry cleaning fluid perchloroethylene. Sharp told the Free Press in an interview Wednesday that his daughter born on the base, who died at the age of two months, may have been a victim of the toxins. Sharp said after learning of the contamination in the 1980s, officials created a database and contacted him and thousands of others who may have drank the water. In 2012, President Obama signed federal legislation providing medical care to those who drank the Camp Lejeune water. Similar actions, along with investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and FBI, need to be taken i in response to the situation in Flint, Sharp said. xxxEND_PAGE:deq27_b087_0464_0464_1

Hi Brad: | am working on an update/wrap-up on the Flint water issue. | have a few questions and | am hoping you can provide answers by the end of the day Tuesday. | am also copying two DEQ officials referenced in the questions, in case they want to answer directly. The questions are based on e-mails obtained through FOIA by Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards, and by the Michigan ACLU. 1/ Have any DEQ officials been re-assigned or disciplined in relation to the Flint drinking water issue, other than Liane Shekter Smith? 2/ Why did Stephen Busch say in a Feb. 27 e-mail to the EPA that Flint had “an optimized corrosion control program” when in fact Flint had no corrosion control program? 3/ On June 25, Adam Rosenthal of the DEQ's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance sent an e-mail about the water samples to Michael Glasgow, a utilities administrator with the City of Flint. "Just wanted to remind you/confirm that Flint is on track for a few items," Rosenthal wrote in the e-mail. 1 xxxEND_PAGE:executiveofficeemails20_b1271_3270_3271_1 "We hope you have 61 more lead/copper samples collected and sent to the lab by 6/30/15, and that they are will be (sic) below the AL (action level) for lead," the e-mail said. "As of now with 39 results, Flint's 90th percentile is over the AL for lead." Was Rosenthal encouraging Flint to collect samples that would be below the action level for lead? Many people are reading his e-mail that way. Is there any reason why | should not? 4/ Why was the DEQ strict in 2015 about disqualifying the sample with a high reading from the home of LeeAnne Walters, for the stated reason that she used a water filter, but not strict in disqualifying other samples for other reasons that could have been used, such as that they were not among the 100 homes that were sampled in 2014, or that they did not come from homes at high risk for lead (for example the homes on Flushing Road that had received a new water main in 2007?) Why is it that of the homes sampled in 2014, only homes that had tested below the AL for lead were sampled again in 2015 and none of the homes that had sampled above the AL for lead in 2014 were sampled again in 2015? Were the samples being cherry picked, as some have suggested? 5/ LeeAnne Walters says she never received a promised letter or email that was to follow up with her from the Aug. 4 meeting in Lansing with DEQ officials and aides to the Governor. Was she ever sent the letter, which was to explain to her, among other items, why the sample from her home was disqualified? Thanks, Paul Egan Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau 517-372-8660 xxxEND_PAGE:executiveofficeemails20_b1271_3270_3271_2