OPINION:
In the present political climate liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, don’t often agree on much, but they can agree that one of the government’s first obligations is keep the drinking water safe. That’s why it’s nothing short of shocking that one of the richest and most sophisticated states not only failed to do that, but was aware that irresponsible cost-cutting was the source of the failure. It’s the kind of scandal expected in impoverished and corrupt Third World governments, not a scandal of both an American state and the national government. One good thing to come from the scandal in Michigan is that the issue of proper drinking water is beginning to pop up across the country.
The facts, as they often are, are contradictory and disputed. But a series of lawsuits, one under the RICO anti-racketeering statutes, might get at the truth and the publicity might persuade guilty governments across the country to mend their ways. Most of the lawsuits name the governor, Rick Snyder, and a dozen or so state officials on behalf of hundreds of residents who were poisoned by Flint water after the city switched to the plentiful but toxic Flint River as the city’s source of water. Mayor Karen Weaver of Flint says the city does not presently intend to add to the litigation but keeps that option available. The lawsuit accuses the city of charging increased rates for poisoned water it said was safe.
Ironically, Gov. Snyder and Michigan were through it all apparently complying with federal standards. “These acts were done in order to prevent the irate citizens of the City of Flint from knowing that the money cost-cutting plan to balance the budget and alleviate the City’s Financial Emergency was to give them toxic water for two years,” the RICO suit alleges.
Although the federal Environmental Protection Agency is not prominently mentioned in the litigation — Susan Hedman, the director of the EPA’s Region 5, is however one of the defendants — the federal government is cast as the primary villain. The air has been full of accusations, some apparently authentic, that the EPA has been exceeding its authority. But where were the usual busybodies in this obvious case of flouting the most fundamental environmental regulations?
Even more exasperating is the revelation that Andy Dillon, the Democratic state treasurer, approved a pipeline to move water from the river even though a report he commissioned in early 2013 recommended against using river water. It gets worse. Flint, like nearby Detroit, was in the hands of a state “receiver” trying to prop up the city’s crippled finances. Oversight ought to have been routine at local, state and federal level. Mr. Dillon was the architect of Flint’s emergency manager law, which gave the state the authority to impose emergency managers to dictate to both Flint and Detroit. Good water was scarce, but not responsibilities flouted.
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