Republicans loved it when Michigan's Governor Snyder declared 'Financial Martial Law' on several of the Michigan's cashed-strapped cities.
Disbarring the locally elected officials in the process. And installing Rick's chosen Accountants, to take over all city business.
If however those Republicans live in Flint Michigan -- they're probably not loving it so much today. Unless of course, they're in the Bottle-Water business ...
Residents of Flint are begging the EPA for clean water
by Danielle Wiener-Bronner, fusion.net -- Oct 02, 2015
On Thursday, officials in Michigan declared a public health emergency over the state of Flint’s water, which doctors suspect is negatively affecting local residents’ health. Despite the announcement, authorities in Flint delivered a plan today that won’t, for now, switch out the city’s water source, Flint River, for Lake Huron, which supplies water for most of the rest of Detroit. The plan relies largely on filters and testing, with the aid of one million dollars pledged by the state. Governor Rick Snyder said in a statement today that “We are focused on helping ensure safe, clean, accessible drinking water and addressing and mitigating concerns and protecting public health.” That probably won’t be enough for some frustrated Flinters.
[...]
But residents did notice a change. According to the Associated Press, people have been complaining about how the water looks and tastes, and saying they think troubling maladies --like hair loss and rashes -- are linked to poor water quality. And a General Motors plant in the area stopped using local water because they say it’s rusting auto parts -- a decision that amounts to a $400,000 loss to Flint each year. Through it all, local officials insist state testing shows the water to be in line with federal safety requirements.
Concerns seemed to be confirmed when a study, led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Flint’s Hurley Children’s hospital found that before the switch, around 2% of children had high levels of lead in their bloodstreams. After, that figure jumped to 4%. NPR put a useful chart together showing the findings:
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Hey, what's the problem? Just because your tap-water "rusts auto parts" and GM won't use it at a $400K annual loss --
doesn't mean it will 'rust human parts'.
Maybe they just need a few more water quality studies, eh?
One Flint Residence DID have their tap-water tested recently.
And the EPA found their Lead Levels to be so high -- that it rated as "toxic waste."
Certainly, Michigan's Financial Czars (aka Flint's Emergency Financial Managers appointed by the Right-Wing Governor Rick Snyder) -- certainly they seen this report (and others like it) and they took it for the serious community health hazard that it was. And certainly they took Immediate Corrective Actions.
One might think so -- but one would be seriously toxically wrong ...
Elevated Lead Levels Detected In Some Michigan Children's Blood
by Editor, Michigan Radio, wunc.org -- Oct 5, 2015
[...]
LINDSEY SMITH, BYLINE: Flint's water problems began about a year ago, not long after the city stopped drawing water from Detroit's system. To save money, Flint began getting its water from here instead, the Flint River. But since the switch, doctors and researchers say cases of elevated blood levels in kids under 5 have doubled in some parts of the city. Lead can cause irreversible health damage, especially in young children.
DAYNE WALLING [Flint's Mayor]: It was not my decision. I raised a number of concerns about it throughout the process.
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SMITH: Governor Rick Snyder had appointed an emergency manager to run Flint. By law, Michigan cities in danger of going bankrupt can get emergency managers, managers who have all kinds of powers that elected leaders don't. And in Flint, they decided the city couldn't afford Detroit's water bill anymore. A new county system is under construction. But in the meantime, the state's bean counters decided the Flint River could do until then. But Virginia Tech's Marc Edwards says Michigan's environmental regulators should have known Flint's new water source was much more corrosive than the water Detroit piped up from Lake Huron and should have treated the water so that it didn't leach lead from old pipes into residents' drinking water.
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MARC EDWARDS: And instead, what they did is they took action after action to cover this problem up and essentially leave Flint residents in harm's way. So at some point, what might be attributed to an honest, perhaps innocent mistake, it changed into something completely different.
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Who needs Lead-Free Water anyways?
Besides, children with rapidly developing brains?
Besides, the elderly who are fighting off the ravages of dementia?
Besides, regular people who care about their long-term health and avoiding cancer?
Who needs Lead-Free Water -- well, this Republican-led Administration seems to think: No One Does.
Clean Drinking Water -- that's apparently one human "luxury" that the citizens of Flint don't deserve just can't afford, according to Gov. Snyder's Emergency Financial Managers -- especially if their "cover up and delaying actions" are to be any guide.
SO Michigan Czars effectively have decreed: "Let them drink Toxic Lead"
Heckuva Job there Snyder! Way to screw up the most basic task of Governing. Insuring Public Safety and Public Health.