The House Government and Oversight Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich., focusing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in the crisis.
“Reports indicated that the EPA, which has oversight over state and local water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, had known about contamination as early as June of 2015, detailed in an internal EPA memo,” the committee announcement said. An EPA official, Susan Hedman, administrator for the region that includes Flint, has said she will step down and the agency’s inspector general has started a probe.
Witnesses at the hearing will include: Joel Beauvais, the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Water; Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality; and Darnell Early, Flint’s former emergency manager, among others.
The city switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River in 2014 as a temporary measure while a new regional water system was being created. While city officials initially said the water was safe — despite numerous complaints from residents — in September studies confirming high lead levels prompted Gov. Rick Snyder to intervene. In October he ordered the city to go back to the Detroit system and earlier this month he declared a state of emergency.
Numerous critics have asked why the city switched to the Flint River in the first place and why the city, state and federal authorities did not act earlier. While the Oversight Committee has focused on the EPA’s oversight of the matter, liberals have blamed Snyder, who appointed Early as the city’s emergency manager in 2013. Early has pointed to the Flint City Council, which voted 7-1 to switch to the Flint River in March 2013, seven months before he was appointed.
