DALLAS — The inaction of local, state, and federal authorities took center stage during the second congressional hearing on the water crisis in Flint, Mich.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard from Darnell Earley, Flint's emergency manager when the water crisis emerged. Some have blamed him for the decision to switch Flint's water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage System to water from the Flint River in 2014 as a cost saving move, but he pointed to others.
Earley took over as emergency manager in Flint in October 2013 — seven months after the Flint City Council approved the water switch and former emergency manager Edward Kurtz signed off on the change.
Earley testified that despite residents repeatedly raising concerns over the odor and cloudiness of the water, his administration failed to investigate because Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality did not raise the red flag that the water was unsafe.
Earley, who at the end of February stepped down from his role of emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools, said he and his staff addressed early concerns with fecal and total coliform, trihalomethanes and E. coli bacteria in Flint water. But concerns at that time did not include lead levels, he said, and lead never came up in water quality meetings with state officials.
"We were grossly misled by experts at MDEQ and EPA," he told lawmakers.
Earley said he acted on the MDEQ's recommendations even though General Motors in October 2014 said that it would discontinue using Flint river water because it was rusting engines it built at its Flint plant.
"At some point common sense should take over. When GM stopped using the water because it was rusting parts it should have sent a clue," said Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Missouri.
Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House committee, said he "nearly vomited" during Earley's comments on GM.
Key members of the congressional committee said the EPA stalled in acting on information it had on the dangerous lead levels in Flint's drinking water and did not intervene to ensure residents had access to clean drinking water.
"It wasn't until January of this year that the EPA took some definitive action," committee chair Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said in his opening statement. He said the continuing crisis could have been stemmed if the EPA or the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had taken action in the summer of 2015 when EPA Region 5 Regulations Manager Miguel Del Toral wrote ammo to his superiors warning of the dangerously high levels of lead in the drinking water.
"What's sickening about this, is it was totally avoidable," Chaffetz said. "On January 21, 2016, nearly seven months after Miguel Del Toral's memo, the EPA issued an Emergency Administrative Order citing 'imminent and substantial endangerment exists' with regard to the high levels of lead in the Flint water supply. How many more people were poisoned in those seven months? How many illnesses were worsened in those seven months?"
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., cited section 1431 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which gives the EPA broad authority to act to protect the health of persons in situations where there may be an imminent and substantial endangerment.
"Was the high lead level not part of this when EPA discovered lead in water?" Walberg asked.
Much of the hearing was focused on assessing blame for the contamination crisis created when Flint switched to Flint River water as a cost-saving measure after its contract with Detroit ended. The city was awaiting completion of a new bond-financed Karegnondi Water Authority line later this year.
No one testifying, at the state or federal level, assumed responsibility for Flint's water crisis, which has deep fiscal repercussions for the city and state.
Several bills are pending that would provide Flint and the state with money.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder proposed in Michigan's fiscal 2017 budget an additional $195 million to help restore safe drinking water to Flint. The funding would come on top of $37 million already approved from a supplemental budget action, bringing total state funding for Flint to $232 million. The crisis has prompted widespread attention on the nation's water infrastructure needs and drawn scrutiny of the Michigan's emergency management system for troubled local governments.
Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, who leads a research team of experts dedicated to resolving Flint's water crisis, testified at Tuesday's hearing. In his opening statement, Edwards said he was dumbfounded by top EPA officials' inability to take responsibility for the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water supply. Edwards said that administrators of EPA were willfully blind and unremorseful for their role in causing a manmade disaster.
"EPA said they have nothing to do with creating Flint; EPA had everything to do with creating Flint," he said.
Former EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman said in her testimony Tuesday that neither she nor the federal agency had anything to do with the conditions that resulted in high levels of lead in Flint's drinking water, downplaying EPA's responsibility.
Hedman said she did not believe that the EPA had done anything wrong. However Hedman is accused of burying the June 2015 Del Toral report which raised concerns over the dangerously high levels of lead in Flint's water.
"If a landlord were to do the same EPA would argue for prosecution but it allowed and entire city to allow lead in drinking water," said Edwards.
Cummings also referenced a September 2015 letter from the governor's former chief of staff Dennis Muchmore, who accused former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling of trying to protect his own reputation by requesting $30 million for improvements to the city's water system.
The third congressional hearing on Flint's water crisis is scheduled for Thursday where Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will testify. Snyder and his administration have come under heavy fire for their apparent reluctance to address the water problem in Flint.
Emails released by the state and other documents related to the ongoing water contamination crisis in Flint suggest that the administration was aware of the problems.
On Feb. 22 the Board of State Canvassers unanimously approved a recall petition seeking an election to remove Snyder from office.
