FLINT, Mich. — The mayor of the eastern Michigan city whose water is contaminated with lead had a simple reaction to one of the senators blocking federal legislation to help her city Friday.
“Shame on him,” Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said of Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Lee is reportedly blocking the agreement to make hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money available to Flint. On Friday, he released a statement saying the agreement is “not even being considered” in the Senate, although he acknowledged its existence.
Weaver, speaking on the front lawn of a house on Pierce Street, was celebrating the first removal of a lead water pipe in her city. The lead from the aging pipes is leaching into the city’s drinking water, which is dangerous especially for pregnant women and children. The removals started Friday and will continue until the $2 million in funding already approved by the Michigan government dries up.
At a press conference earlier Friday, Weaver said she hoped momentum was building at the federal level to send her city aid. However, Lee aims to put a wrench in those plans.
Lee said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, has not asked for congressional aid and contended that Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats, have not either. Stabenow and Peters have been angling for federal aid for Flint for weeks.
“What is happening to the people of Flint, Mich., is a man-made disaster,” Lee said. “Congress has special mechanisms for emergency spending when it is needed, but to date Michigan’s governor has not asked us for any, nor have Michigan’s senators proposed any. Contrary to media reports, there is no federal ‘aid package’ for Flint even being considered.”
The widely reported deal confirmed by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe makes $100 million available to any state experiencing a drinking water emergency, $70 million to back secured loans to upgrade water and drinking infrastructure, and $50 million in funding for health programs to address and prevent the effects of lead exposure.
A $250 million Department of Energy program for advanced vehicles would be used to pay for the package.
Lee added he believes the crisis should be dealt with by the state. He pointed to Snyder’s $200 million budget request for aid for Flint from the Michigan Legislature as evidence and said the state has a large “rainy-day fund” that should be used instead of asking for federal funding.
“The people and policymakers of Michigan right now have all the government resources they need to fix the problem,” Lee said. “And those public resources are being augmented every day by the generosity of individuals, businesses, labor unions and civic organizations of every stripe from across the country. The only thing Congress is contributing to the Flint recovery is political grandstanding.”
Weaver laughed at the idea that Flint has the resources it needs to deal with the problem.
The house on Pierce Street is the first to have its lead pipe removed. During the initial phase of the city’s pipe-removal plan, about 230 houses will have their lead pipes replaced with copper alternatives.
The house belongs to Barry Richardson, a father of one with a pregnant fiance.
“I just want to thank the mayor … for getting not only me, but my pregnant fiance and my daughter fresh, clean water finally,” he said.
However, Flint has about 15,000 lead pipes that Weaver wants to replace. Earlier this week, the top Republican in the Michigan House of Representatives said no new money would come to Flint until October, including a proposed $25 million bill to fund the removal of lead pipes.
Weaver said she agreed with Lee that the state needed to step up, but said that was no excuse for the federal government not pitching in.
“Just because somebody else did something wrong doesn’t mean you make the citizens of this community suffer,” she said. “We know the governor has a surplus and we’ve been asking for it, we should have had it already. It should be a priority. But, when one person doesn’t step up, it doesn’t mean everyone else shouldn’t step up as well.”
In April 2014, Flint switched its water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which draws water from Lake Huron, to a local agency that also took water from the lake.
The infrastructure needed to get water from Lake Huron to Flint under the new agency was not yet built, however, so an emergency manager appointed by Snyder decided to take water from the Flint River as a temporary measure.
But the water from the Flint River is so polluted and acidic that the water ate away at the lead pipes bringing water to the city’s homes.
The state did not require Flint to put any corrosion-control chemicals into the water. Those chemicals could have prevented the leaching of lead into the drinking water. The water is now being treated with those chemicals, but the corrosion controls need to once again build back up on the city’s pipes.
Removing the lead pipes in Flint will be spotty at first. Weaver has directed crews to find homes where people are most in danger, focusing on pregnant women, the elderly and children whose houses have high levels of lead in their water.
There is also a private group working separately to remove and replace lead service lines. There were reports Friday that Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials and the Flint police were questioning crews whether they had the proper permits to replace the pipes.
Weaver said she hopes Lee realizes his delay of the aid package harms Flint residents.
“Americans citizens are still suffering. We have kids and families that have been damaged and will be damaged for the rest of their lives,” she said.
