Congress grills officials on Flint water crisis

WASHINGTON— More than 200 Flint, Mich., residents took a nine-hour bus ride to watch Congress probe the water crisis in their hometown at a hearing today.

Democrats made concerted attacks against Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, demanding he resign for poisoning his own constituents. But House Republicans aimed at Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy and her agency, which they vilified as part of an ineffective Obama administration.

“Are you kidding me?” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “You need to take some responsibility because you screwed up—and you messed up the lives of a hundred thousand people. … Ten thousand of those lives are 6 years old and younger, and you take no responsibility? You don’t think you did anything wrong?”

But the Flint residents in attendance did not want McCarthy to take responsibility; they wanted to axe their governor.

Hundreds of angry Michigan citizens lined the halls of Congress, some arriving as early as 5 a.m. for a 9 a.m. hearing, for the chance to confront Snyder. One women yelled for him to resign as he walked in. Others brought “Flint Lives Matter” signs, and some had T-shirts with pictures of the corroded pipes that spewed brown water in their communities.

In April 2014, city officials made a budgetary decision to switch the water supply to the Flint River instead of relying on Detroit. Residents immediately began to complain about the taste and color of the water. By January 2015, Flint began an evaluation of its water supply, but maintained it was safe. Contaminated water in Flint contributed to the death of 10 residents, with 27,000 cases of lead poisoning—87 with Legionnaires’ disease.

Snyder did not pledge to take action on Flint's tainted water until Sept. 29, 2015. He declared a state of emergency in Flint on Jan. 5 of this year.

At today’s hearing, many stood waiting outside, unable to fit into the congressional room. Only a small number of families were able to bypass the long wait.

Activist groups in Flint selected five families impacted by the water crisis to represent their city for the hearings and made sure they had seats. Lewenna Terry, part of the “Flint Five,” brought her 10-year-old son, whom she said started experiencing attitude changes and attention loss last year from her city’s polluted water supply.

“He used to be a good student,” she said. “Now he gets poor grades, and I get calls from his teachers all the time about his behavior.”

Terry’s son Jaylon sat in the row behind her. He was unable to sit still, switching from his chair to the floor. Jaylon distracted himself with cellphone games and by making funny faces in his phone’s front-facing camera before leaving the hearing with a family friend.

Terry said she doesn’t know the extent of damage inflicted on her son, but told me their pet birds and dogs all died from consuming the contaminated water.

Audience members remained quiet for most of the four-hour hearing, but they couldn’t forgo a round of applause when Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., confronted Snyder.

“There are many children who will sit in the second and third grade, not be able to read the words, ‘See Spot run,’ because they have lead in their veins,” Cummings directed at the Republican governor. “You cannot be trusted, and you need to resign.”

The governor admitted responsibility for his state’s inaction to protect Flint residents. He said he has fired several officials and kicks himself every day about the different actions he could have taken to prevent the crisis.

Republicans sympathized with Snyder, who told them he knows he is not innocent. They focused attacks on McCarthy, who did not visit Flint until last month.

Susan Hedman, the EPA’s former Midwest Region 5 administrator, resigned in January, days before Congress began investigating the crisis. Republicans asked McCarthy repeatedly if she would have fired Hedman if she did not resign. McCarthy dodged each question and told Congress that she has not fired or asked anyone to step down in her administration.

When asked if the EPA takes partial responsibility for Flint’s tainted water supply, McCarthy said, “the system failed,” and “we were part of that system.”

On Wednesday, upon congressional request, the EPA released thousands of pages of emails related to Flint’s water crisis. Chaffetz pointed to an email thread between McCarthy and Hedman in September suggesting they knew of Flint’s severity last fall.

The EPA did not formally recognize Flint’s water as a danger to its people until Jan. 21. Hedman announced her resignation the same day.