Bob Collins
Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan used some of his State of the State address this week to apologize for the disaster that has befallen the people of Flint, Michigan thanks in large measure to the incompetence of public servants and elected officials. Residents get a helping of lead when they turn on the tap and run their water. In some cases, the lead content is so high that the water could legally be classified as “toxic waste.”
In his speech last night, Snyder vowed to do everything in his power to solve the crisis.
He also vowed to release all the information that flowed into his office during the time when the residents were being poisoned.
In releasing all of the emails, he said he was doing so to insure the people of Michigan know the truth about what happened.
Let’s start with the very first email he released today.
The emails that weren’t redacted have indicated that the officials knew of the problem their decisions caused by last January.
Included in today’s release was a press release claiming at the time that the water was safe to drink, criticizing assertions to the contrary as “myths.”
“It is a reminder of why you can’t shortchange basic services that we provide to our people; and that we together provide as government to make sure that the public health and safety is preserved,” President Obama said today while speaking in Detroit.
Related: Flint, Michigan’s water crisis: what the national media got wrong (Vox)
As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints From Flint (NY Times)
