Flint water crisis boils over in Congress

WASHINGTON—Residents in Flint, Mich., have been stuck in limbo for months as government officials ricochet blame for poisoning the city’s water supply and endangering the lives of thousands of children.

“This is the United States of America, this is not a third-world country,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “This is a failing at every level—the public has the right to be outraged.”

Chaffetz’s committee held the first hearing on the Flint water crisis today in an effort to illuminate who’s at fault.

Lee Ann Walters, a Flint resident, came to testify on behalf of her city and called her home “ground zero.” Walters noticed the grave impacts of the contaminated water in her home for months but could not persuade officials to get involved. Her son now has a diminished immune system and shows signs of learning disabilities from lead poisoning. After multiple failed attempts of whistleblowing to local officials, Walters does not trust the government to protect her family.

Tension flared in the committee room as scores of Flint residents filled the audience and dozens overflowed into the hallway. Committee members were noticeably outraged at mishandling by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, and other state officials. Members praised the residents who traveled to Washington for the hearing, but others placed greater importance on who did not show up—most notably Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

“Obviously Gov. Snyder needs to answer for his decisions,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the committee’s ranking member. “Children have been poisoned with lead, and not by accident, by the actions of their own government.”

Snyder did not declare the water crisis a state of emergency until last month. Other Democrats concurred with Cummings that Snyder, a Republican, is culpable.

“Can anybody tell me why the governor of Michigan is not here?” asked Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa. “Because he’s hiding, that’s why. … He was caught red-handed poisoning his citizens.”

At the beginning of the hearing, Chaffetz acknowledged the importance of bringing Snyder in to testify but said other parties also are at fault. He noted the committee issued a subpoena for Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, but he refused to comply. Chaffetz announced at the beginning of the hearing that attendance is not optional, and he pledged to order U.S. Marshals to find Earley and “hunt him down” if necessary.

In 2014, Earley directed the city to switch its water supply to the Flint River, which many point to as the genesis of the contaminated water crisis.

Marc Edwards, a professor at Virginia Tech University and an expert on lead in drinking water, told the committee he places most of the blame on the EPA. According to Edwards, Susan Hedman, the EPA’s regional administrator for Flint, did not enforce federal law and is responsible for the lead-contaminated water.

If the Flint water crisis is “not criminal, I don’t know what is,” Edwards said.

Hedman resigned from her position on Monday. The committee issued a subpoena for her to explain her actions before Congress.

The only person at the hearing representing the EPA was Joel Beauvais, the acting deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Water. Beauvais took over the position in November and used his lack of tenure to explain his lack of knowledge on the issue.

Several Flint residents in the audience wore black T-shirts that read “Flint Lives Matter.” Women sat in the back raising baby bottles of discolored water throughout the hearing. At one point, one woman left the room in tears and loudly sobbed in the hallway outside.

Chaffetz had to ask the audience to calm down four times throughout the hearing, trying to quell the incessant cheers and boos.

The crowd grumbled even more when Beauvais admitted current EPA administrator Gina McCarthy did not visit Flint until yesterday.

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., called the situation in Flint the greatest governmental mishandling of an issue since Hurricane Katrina.

Others agreed the government could have taken steps to prevent the problem. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said officials were capable of handling the situation but did not follow the regulations in place. According to Mica, Michigan officials can test the water supply for $80-$100 a day, about $30,000 a year.

“For that much money, we poisoned the kids in Flint!” he said.