By Derrick Z. Jackson No punishment has yet fit the crime of the Flint water crisis, complete with its child poisoning and lethal outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease. After a prior investigation fell apart in 2019, Michigan state prosecutors unveiled a slew of fresh charges against nine figures involved in the fateful penny-pinching move to switch […]
By Wenonah Hauter Five years ago this week, an emergency manager appointed by then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder made the devastating decision to save money by switching Flint’s water supply over from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River. Seen as a temporary fix, the new water supply was not properly treated. High levels of lead […]
Two Michigan environmental regulators implicated in the Flint water crisis plead “no contest” in a bid to avoid felony charges. As part of their deal, they will also testify against others involved with the scandal, which contaminated the town of Flint, Michigan’s drinking water with lead and resulted in 12 deaths from Legionnaires’ Disease, The […]
International Peace Day is Sept. 21. Mekela Panditharatne, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, submitted the following op-ed to EcoWatch in commemoration. In drought-ravaged East Africa, the cracks in the plains echo the fault lines splitting tribes. Across the globe, the devastation of deadly brawls is being exacerbated by tensions over access to water. […]
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon will be the highest ranking official to go to trial so far as a result of an investigation into the Flint water crisis, The Associated Press reported Monday. Judge David Goggins ruled Monday there was probable cause for Lyon to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter […]
A report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internal watchdog organization published Thursday argued that the EPA needed to step up its monitoring of state drinking water in the aftermath of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, CBS reported. The report, conducted by the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General, found that EPA’s Region 5 […]
By Fiona E. McNeill The Michigan community of Flint has become a byword for lead poisoning. Elon Musk recently entered the fray. He tweeted a promise to pay to fix the water in any house in Flint that had water contamination above acceptable levels set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. On Twitter and […]
When Detroit-area native Ali Rose VanOverBeke came back home in 2016 to volunteer with the Red Cross at the height of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, she probably didn’t expect to get a business idea with the potential to change both her and Flint’s future. But that is exactly what happened. VanOverBeke noticed the buildup […]
By Cedric Taylor On April 6, with little warning, the state of Michigan closed water point of distribution (POD) centers that have provided residents in Flint for the past three years with bottled water to drink, cook and bathe. This move was based on analysis showing that the city’s water quality had tested below action […]