LANSING — The Snyder administration quietly trucked in water to state buildings in January of 2015 – ten months prior to Governor Snyder publicly admitting there was reason for concern in Flint, according to a document obtained by Progress Michigan.
The document is a Facility Notification sent by the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) in response to poor water quality in Flint. The notification stated that water coolers were being installed on each occupied floor next to the drinking fountains so that state workers could choose to continue to drink Flint water or a safe alternative.
“It appears the state wasn’t as slow as we first thought in responding the Flint Water Crisis. Sadly, the only response was to protect the Snyder administration from future liability and not to protect the children of Flint from lead poisoning,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “While residents were being told to relax and not worry about the water, the Snyder administration was taking steps to limit exposure in its own building.”
Oh … wow. Even conservatives can understand what that means, right? And it presumably means the Gov. and everybody else with responsibility in the chain of command can be sued for wilfull dereliction of duty, or whatever the legalese is.
Of course they fucking knew. Corporate raiders put in charge of public safety by Republicans? Who could have guessed they wouldn’t give two shits black families who’d committed the unpardonable sin of being poor?
In October 2014 General Motors stopped using Flints water because it was corroding their equipment.
If the water was corroding GM’s equipment it was certainly harming human beings.
That’s why 3 months later, in January 2015, the bottled water showed up for state workers.
In Japan, Snyder would have resigned or committed hara-kiri. Maybe even both.
But here, he’ll evade all responsibility.