Snyder’s Advisers Knew Flint Water Was Toxic
(OMMON DREAMS) Nika Knight, February 27, 2016 — Reigniting calls for Rick Snyder’s resignation, emails released Friday reveal that advisers to the Michigan governor knew that Flint’s water was toxic as far back as October 2014.
“My Mom is a City resident. Nice to know she’s drinking water with elevated chlorine levels and fecal coliform,” the governor’s chief legal counsel said in an email sent just three weeks before the Republican governor’s re-election, according to the Detroit Free Press.
After examining over 500 emails released by the governor’s office, the Detroit News reported that “[t]wo top advisers to Gov. Rick Snyder urged switching Flint back to Detroit’s water system in October 2014, after General Motors Co. said the city’s heavily chlorinated river water was rusting engine parts.”
“There’s no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top adviser to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Lansing-based watchdog group Progress Michigan, in a press release. “At worst he’s been lying all along and at best he’s the worst manager on the planet. Under either scenario he’s clearly unfit to lead our state and he should resign immediately.”