The Flint Water Crisis. Update: Everybody got off

[Cooked Crack]

Quote

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Authorities investigating Flint’s water crisis have used search warrants to seize from storage the state-owned mobile devices of former Gov. Rick Snyder and 65 other current or former officials, The Associated Press has learned.

 

The warrants were sought two weeks ago by the attorney general’s office and signed by a Flint judge, according to documents the AP obtained through public records requests.

 

Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who is helping with the probe, confirmed they executed a series of search warrants related to the criminal investigation of Flint’s lead-contaminated water in 2014-15 and a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.

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The investigation has led to charges against 15 current or former government officials, including two who served in the Cabinet of Snyder, a Republican who left office in December. But no one is behind bars, and some Flint residents believe key players who could have prevented the lead debacle are getting off easy.

 

“As stated in recent motions, the prosecution is aware of substantial potential evidence that was not provided to the original prosecution team from the onset of the investigation,” Hammoud said in a statement following the AP’s reporting. “The team is currently in the process of obtaining this evidence through a variety of means, including search warrants. The team is also conducting a thorough review of existing and newly received evidence pertaining to the Flint water crisis.”

Article

Edited October 5, 2022 by Cooked Crack

[Bozo the kKklown]

Good

[thegreaterbuzzette]

About time. 

[NoCalMike]

Long overdue. 

[Destino]

It’s encouraging to see investigations continue and criminal charges have been filed, with perhaps more to come.  Problem is that i don’t have any confidence that government will hold government accountable.  Not to an extent that could be fairly called “justice.”  Power protects itself, so I expect slaps on the wrist for some while regular folk are forced to find solace in settlement agreements paid with taxpayer money.  That always seems to be the way these stories end.

[visionary]

 

[Larry]

14 minutes ago, visionary said:

 

 

Scotch.  

[China]

Why Did Michigan Just Drop All Charges in the Flint Water Crisis?

 

The people of Flint, Michigan, deserve justice. More than five years ago, the city switched its water source and exposed nearly 100,000 residents to lead-tainted drinking water. Yet the state has failed to hold anyone accountable for this event, and now the Department of Attorney General is dropping all charges related to the investigation—including an involuntary manslaughter charge against a top health official.

 

While it sounds backward, dropping these charges may help the state build a stronger case to actually hold people accountable. At least, that’s what the state is claiming.

 

The department announced its decision on Thursday, noting in a release that it was made with the intent of launching a new “full and complete investigation.” The old administration under Attorney General Bill Schuette initiated the current investigation, and current Attorney General Dana Nessel took office this year promising to go harder than her predecessor. Apparently, killing the investigation—after the state spent more than $30 million on it—is her team’s strategy.

 

“I want to remind the people of Flint that justice delayed is not always justice denied and a fearless and dedicated team of career prosecutors and investigators are hard at work to ensure those who harmed you are held accountable,” Nessel said in a statement.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

Hey, I can certainly understand how going into court with a weak case is worse than not going into court at all.  

 

Now, whether that's what's happening, here?  

 

[China]

As Democrats debate in nearby Detroit, a deep-seated distrust remains in Flint

 

Flint, Michigan (CNN)Trash bags still cover the water fountains at First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church to keep thirsty congregants from drinking from them.

 

At another church, the pastor only performs baptisms with bottled water.

Every Thursday, a line of cars stretches for more than a mile down Dort Highway, as Flint residents wait hours for bottled water because they are afraid to drink from their faucets.

It's hard to grasp the distrust that forms when people fear the water that comes from their tap could make them ill -- or worse.

But every day, residents of Flint are reminded that, despite the declarations from the state of Michigan and the Environmental Protection Agency that their water is safe, the city's man-made crisis is far from over -- more than five years after it began.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Flint residents urged to ‘dispose’ of bottled water from FEMA

 

FLINT, Mich. (WLNS) – A Flint church is urging residents to ‘dispose’ of certain bottles of water they received this weekend because of water quality issues.

 

Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Flint received complaints about Niagara and Refresh water brands, according to reports from our media partners at MLive.

 

They advised anyone with concerns about the smell or taste of the water they received not to drink it.

 

Moore said the water was acquired for distribution from the Federal Emergency Management Agency by District 7 and Local 1626 of the American Federation of Government Employees.

 

Click on the link for more

[China]

187 million gallons of partially-treated sewage spilled into Flint, Saginaw rivers last weekend

 

FLINT, MI -- Heavy rains pushed more than 187 million gallons of partially-treated sewage into the Flint and Saginaw rivers last weekend, according to updated reports filed by wastewater officials in Flint, Saginaw and Bay City.

 

The discharges, treated with disinfection and some settling, were also heavily diluted by rain and melted snow, according to reports filed by the three cities with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

 

Flint, Saginaw and Bay City each have combined sanitary and storm sewers, which means runoff from rain ends up at sewage treatment plants that have retention basins but limited capacity. Once that capacity is reached, the overflow is released to prevent sewage backups.

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls combined sewer overflows “remnants of the country’s early infrastructure” in which communities built sewer systems to collect both stormwater runoff and sanitary sewage in the same pipe. During dry weather, the combined sewers typically carry a manageable load of raw sewage, but during heavy rainfall or snow melting, systems can be overwhelmed and overflow into streams, rivers or lakes.

 

The Flint River feeds into the Saginaw River, which discharges into Lake Huron.

 

Flint discharged more than 62 million gallons of stormwater and partially-treated sewage into the Flint River, according to state reports. Bay City released more than 47 million gallons in the Saginaw River after skimming and partial disinfection, and Saginaw released more than 78 million gallons of treated discharge into the Saginaw River from a series of retention basins that are used to hold overflows until capacity is reached.

 

Earlier this week, the city of Lapeer also reported a 2.5-million gallon discharge into the Flint River.

 

Saginaw also reported having treated the overflows, which “had floatable and settleable solids removed ... with chlorine prior to discharge," according to its report to the state.

“It’s the way the system was set up to work,” Brian Baldwin, superintendent of the Saginaw wastewater treatment plant, said of the use of partial treatment and releases to the river.

 

The EPA says approximately 860 communities with a total population of about 40 million people still operate with combined sewers, most of them in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

 

The agency calls combined sewers a major water pollution concern and among the major sources responsible for “beach closings, shellfishing restrictions and other water body impairments" because of concerns about bacteria.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Barry.Randolphe]

Our government clearly sucks ass, but why can't some of our billionaires take on more philanthropic causes to fix this like Carnegie, JP Morgan, etc did in the early 1900s? This wouldn't cause the slightest of dents in Bezos' or Gates' bank accounts to fix this.

[SkinsFTW]

5 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

Our government clearly sucks ass, but why can't some of our billionaires take on more philanthropic causes to fix this like Carnegie, JP Morgan, etc did in the early 1900s? This wouldn't cause the slightest of dents in Bezos' or Gates' bank accounts to fix this.

 

Or, you'd think that highly taxed states such as Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, would be spending some of that on fixing their obvious decades old problems.

[StillUnknown]

10 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

Our government clearly sucks ass, but why can't some of our billionaires take on more philanthropic causes to fix this like Carnegie, JP Morgan, etc did in the early 1900s? This wouldn't cause the slightest of dents in Bezos' or Gates' bank accounts to fix this.

 

because its almost 54% black

[Larry]

17 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

Our government clearly sucks ass, but why can't some of our billionaires take on more philanthropic causes to fix this like Carnegie, JP Morgan, etc did in the early 1900s? This wouldn't cause the slightest of dents in Bezos' or Gates' bank accounts to fix this.

 

Just curious as to where you got your estimate for how much it would cost for the entire city of Flint to construct an entire second sewer system, and then switch either all the existing storm drains, or all the existing sewers, to the new system.  Or did you have some other solution in mind, to fix it?

[Barry.Randolphe]

7 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

Just curious as to where you got your estimate for how much it would cost for the entire city of Flint to construct an entire second sewer system, and then switch either all the existing storm drains, or all the existing sewers, to the new system.  Or did you have some other solution in mind, to fix it?

 

I've seen $55M quoted, then I see up to $1.5B quoted.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water/cost-to-fix-flint-water-infrastructure-could-reach-1-5-billion-reports-idUSKBN0UL2HW20160107

Quote

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said in Lansing, the state capital, where she met with Governor Rick Snyder, that the cost to fix or replace the city’s water pipes has been estimated in a range of millions of dollars to up to $1.5 billion, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press reported. 

 

Gates and Bezos are both estimated to have $100B+ in net worth.

[Larry]

8 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

 

I've seen $55M quoted, then I see up to $1.5B quoted.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water/cost-to-fix-flint-water-infrastructure-could-reach-1-5-billion-reports-idUSKBN0UL2HW20160107

 

Gates and Bezos are both estimated to have $100B+ in net worth.

 

Lead line of the article you quoted:  

 

"Fixing Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated drinking water infrastructure . . . "

 

The sewers are a different problem.  

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Renegade7]

Not enough, I want criminal charges filed at minimum to go with this.

[China]

Flint Has Clean Water Now. Why Won’t People Drink It?

 

In a city synonymous for half a decade with disaster, something remarkable happened in February 2019. A team of researchers reported that Flint’s homes—even the ones at the highest risk for undrinkable, lead-poisoned tap water—finally had clean water running through their pipes.

 

After years of painstaking cleanup and rebuilding, the study’s results were a sparkling capstone. Earlier tests already hinted at good news, and this one confirmed it: In the vast majority of such homes, lead levels were 5 parts per billion or better—far below even the strictest regulations in the country. Local news outlet MLive trumpeted the news, and Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality tacked it to their ongoing list of promising signs that indicated the city’s potable present and future.

 

But a few weeks later, another, equally remarkable thing happened. As part of a United Nations-sponsored “World Water Day” celebration, the City of Flint parked 12 semitrailers stacked with pallets of bottled water on the city’s street corners, offering them to any city resident who could show an ID. People flocked to the pickup locations. They lined up their cars and popped their trunks to collect cases of water to use in their homes—water in bottles, from somewhere else, that they actually trusted.

 

The wariness wasn’t out of ignorance. Equally wary was Jim Ananich, a lifelong Flint resident and outgoing leader of the Democratic minority in the Michigan State Senate. Ananich wasn’t in line that day, but he understands why people were.

 

“I can’t tell somebody they should trust [claims that the water is safe], because I don’t trust them—and I have more information than most people,” said Ananich. “Science and logic would tell me that it should be OK, but people have lied to me.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[visionary]