6 State Employees Charged in Flint Water Crisis | Sojourners

6 State Employees Charged in Flint Water Crisis

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Michigan’s attorney general has filed charges against six state employees for their roles in the lead contamination crisis in the city of Flint, Mich., reports The Detroit News.

Attorney General Bill Schuette is bringing charges against three employees of the Department of Health and Human Services and three employees of the Department of Environmental Quality, including Liane Shekter Smith, the former municipal water chief and the only state employee to have been fired so far in the wake of the crisis.

According to The Detroit News:

The DHHS employees charged were Nancy Peeler, Robert Scott and Corrine Miller. They all face charges of misconduct in office, conspiring to commit misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty related to allegedly concealing or disregarding test results showing high levels of lead in the bloodstreams of Flint residents.

… Shekter Smith, the former chief of Michigan’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, and current water regulators Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal were charged with various crimes related to their alleged misinterpretation of federal regulations for lead in water.

… DEQ emails released by Gov. Rick Snyder’s office have shown that Cook actively dismissed concerns raised in April 2015 by EPA lead expert Miguel Del Toral about Flint’s lack of corrosion control chemicals that prevent lead from leaching into the water from old pipes.

Read the full article here.

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