Friends:
Tonight, Governor Rick Snyder will deliver his State of the State address to the Michigan Legislature. It is anticipated that a large portion of the address will be dedicated to the #FlintWaterCrisis.
If you listen or watch this address, please understand the dynamics of this situation. The Governor is in full damage-control mode. He is reeling from intense criticism of his office’s handling of the Crisis. He will attempt to assuage public distrust of government by assuring the people that action is being taken to abate the crisis, such as his call for a federal disaster declaration, the state of emergency declaration, the re-connecting of the Flint water system to Detroit Water, and possibly others. The damage, however, is already done.
The chief pharmacological response to heavy metals poisoning is to avoid exposure in the first place, and that position is shored by numerous federal and state laws designed to protect the integrity of the drinking water system of the many cities in Michigan and in the United States.
The great thing about being a regular citizen is that I don’t need to worry about being fair, like the press does, I only need to worry about being truthful. Why post about this? Because my kids may be these peoples’ next target, and I won’t let that happen, and neither should you.
In anticipation of tonight’s address, I have started this blog, and I respond thus. If you don’t know the faces of the characters in this story, I’ve attached images.
The following facts are undisputed.
Flint is the largest city and county seat of Genesee County, Michigan. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit. According to the 2010 census, Flint has a population of 102,434, making it the seventh largest city in Michigan. Genesee County comprises the entirety of Flint’s metropolitan area, the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 425,790 in 2010.
The City of Flint changed its water source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014.
Following the switch, residents began complaining about discoloration and the water’s taste and smell. The city initially struggled with bacteria levels and the presence of a disinfectant byproduct, TTHM, in the water. Flint’s drinking water became contaminated with lead in 2014 after the city, while under the control of state-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley, switched its drinking water supply from Lake Huron water treated in Detroit to water from the Flint River treated at the Flint water treatment plant.[1]
Officials in the Michigan Governor’s office knew of the lead contamination as early as 2014, but the exact date is yet to be determined.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality knew of the lead contamination as early as 2014, but the exact date is yet to be determined.
In July of 2015, the governor’s Chief of Staff, Dennis Muchmore, noted in an email that Flint residents were basically being blown off by the state. Two days after Muchmore’s communication, he received a response from DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel indicating the concerns were unfounded. Roughly a half-hour before sending the email, Wurfel was told by Stephen Busch, DEQ’s district coordinator, the latest testing results showed Flint to be in compliance with federal standards. [2]
On September 14, 2015, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling asked the governor for money to replace lead water pipes.[3]
On Sept, 24 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Pediatircian at Hurley Medical Center found that the percentage of children 5 years old and younger with more than 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead in their blood increased from 2.1 percent while Flint purchased Lake Huron water from the city of Detroit to 4 percent after the switch to the Flint River. Areas of Flint with the highest lead levels, according to testing by Virginia Tech University, also showed the most drastic increases in elevated lead levels in children, rising from 2.5 percent to 6.3 percent. She recommended that the Flint River be immediately terminated as a drinking water source, and that lead filters be distributed immediately. [4] At first, the state publicly denounced Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s work, saying she was causing near hysteria. They spent a week attacking her before reversing their narrative and admitting she was right. [5] Dr. Attisha went on to say, “[i]f you were to put something in a population to keep them down for generation and generations to come, it would be lead, [i]t’s a well-known, potent neurotoxin. There’s tons of evidence on what lead does to a child, and it is one of the most damning things that you can do to a population. It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it’s been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child.” Lead poisoning is irreversible. Pediatricians such as Hanna-Attisha fear the Flint children who tested with elevated levels will suffer lifelong consequences. There are environmental actions that can help mitigate exposure such as proper nutrition and early childhood education. But that’s made more difficult in a city with inadequate resources and without a grocery store.
On October 13, 2015 the former State-appointed Emergency Manager, Darnell Earley, who presided over the water switch, quickly disavowed involvement in the crisis. [6] Earley is now the Emergency Manager of Detroit Public Schools, which in January of 2016 are being subjected to teacher “sick-outs” and investigations over the conditions in the schools, which include mold, leaky ceilings, busted windows, rodents, roaches, lack of heat and standing water. [7]
Flint Finance Director Jody Lunquist told Flint residents as early as November 05, 2015 that shutoff notices would be issued for past-due water accounts. [8]
On November 6, 2015, Flint’s former mayor Dayne Walling was replaced by Karen Weaver.
On November 9, 2015, Michigan was named by a national survey as raking last in laws concerning ethics and transparency, placing it among the most corrupt states in the country. [9]
On December 30, 2015, former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality director Dan Wyant resigned. [10]
On January 5, 2016, it was reported that United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced an investigation into the contamination in Flint. [11]
On January 13, 2016 it was reported that Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water, which causes Legionnaires Disease. From May 2015 to November 2015, 42 cases of the disease were confirmed in Genesee County. [12]
On January 15, 2016, Governor Snyder activated 30 National Guardsmen to assist in distributing bottled water and fighting fires in Flint. [13]
Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is Michigan’s”top law-enforcement officer,” and self-styled “people’s lawyer” deferred all action, and did not even begin an official investigation into the handling of this matter until January 15, 2016—long after the matter had received national attention. [14] Schuette has held a large portfolio of political positions in Michigan, which he hopes to expand in 2018 as Governor.
The President declared an emergency in Flint on January 16, 2016 – two days after receiving a request for such an action from Governor Snyder. [15]
My focus will be on bringing attention to important matters, so that my children will not have to deal with the fallout of this kind of incompetence in the future, hopefully without any journalistic propriety–only truth.
Clint Hubbell 