A second House committee has decided to take up the lead water crisis in Flint, Mich., and will hold a hearing on the scandal next week.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment and the economy, and a separate subcommittee on health, will hold a joint hearing on the water crisis that has left 100,000 people in the eastern Michigan town unable to drink tap water. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 13.
According to a statement, the hearing will look at drinking water infrastructure issues across the country and what the short- and long-term public health implications are for the crisis.
Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the hearing won’t be about blame, but will be about the future.
“We will carefully examine the underlying causes, various public health implications, and potential solutions,” Upton said. “I’m not interested in finger pointing; I’m interested in being part of the solution. We need all levels of government to cooperate with each other and focus on what is in the best interest of the people we are privileged to serve.”
It’s the first hearing under the House Energy and Commerce umbrella. Previously, the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform held three different hearings on the water crisis in Flint and is doing an independent investigation.
Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the committee, said the hearing in front of the two subcommittees would help government work together on long-term assistance for Flint.
“Flint should serve as a wake-up call that we must invest more to ensure our nation’s drinking water is safe,” Pallone said. “We must also work in a bipartisan fashion to address the widespread problems of elevated blood lead levels in children throughout the nation. This is a major public health challenge, and this committee must examine what policies and resources are needed to better support federal lead poisoning prevention and surveillance programs.”
A witness list is not yet available for the hearing.
In April 2014, a state emergency manager appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on a symbolic vote from the Flint City Council to change the city’s water source. The move aimed to cut costs by requiring the city to take its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department while a new pipeline was built to connect the city to Lake Huron.
The Flint River water, however, was so acidic that it caused the lead pipes bringing water from the city’s cast iron mains into homes to corrode. Lead leached off the pipes and into the drinking water throughout the city.
A state report issued last month put the blame on the state for the crisis.
