Former Flint mayor wants federal inquiry into lead in water

Flint

Former Flint Mayor James Flint Sharp Jr. has called for federal investigations into the Flint water controversy and a more inclusive initiative and test on the matter of supplying water with safe levels of lead.

A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Angela Minicuci, said the state is cooperating with the investigation by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and would help with other federal investigations too. State officials believe they are going forward appropriately with those potentially exposed to water with high concentrations of lead, Minicuci said Thursday.

Sharp, who was Flint’s mayor from 1983 to 1987, was in Camp Lejeune in the 1950s, where drinking water was determined “contaminated” with cancer-causing chemicals such as the dry cleaning liquid perchloroethylenes.

The 82-year-old Democrat, now retired and living in Arizona, said in an interview Wednesday that four of their five children lived at the base for some time. A daughter was born there who died at the age of two months, and his first wife died inher30s; they may have been the victims of contamination, he said.

In 2012, President Obama signed the federal health care law for those who drank the Camp Lejeune water.

Similar measures, along with investigations by the U. S. Department of Justice and FBI need to be taken in response to the situation in Flint, Sharp opined.

Flint was under an emergency manager appointed by the state in 2013 when the manager —with the support of the City Council — decided to split with the Water and Sewerage Department of Detroit, which had been delivering the city with drinking water from Lake Huron. As a cost reduction measure, the emergency manager —with the support of the Department of Environmental Quality Michigan — decided to draw and treat water from the Flint River till the new pipeline setup, as Flint and Detroit could not agree to a price for interim.

Flint started drawing its water from the river in April 2014, and almost immediately faced complaints from residents about water’s taste, odor, and appearance. Tests showed the presence of higher levels of lead in the water and in the blood of children, and the government acknowledged that the failure of appropriate measures for making river water less corrosive resulted in lead leaking into the water from existing pipes and fittings.

Following a public outcry, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature agreed on funding for re-connection of Flint to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Sharp said the task force engaged is not enough, and he thinks that the U. S. Department of Justice should probe into the violations of civil rights and the FBI should find out whether any crimes were committed.

“We can’t permit these people to examine themselves,” he said. “First; we have to protect people who drank water.”

Minicuci said what happened at Camp Lejeune, and the situation in Flint “includes two very different sets of circumstances.”

“Unlike exposure can result in a variety of ways, not just water, we believe that the current effort to follow up with nurses is the best approach to identify and reduce lead exposure in the community as a whole.”

As for the inquiries, “we’re working with the federal government in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their convenience,” said Minicuci. “If the U. S. Department of Justice and the FBI were interested in investigating the matter, we would assist with cooperation as well.”

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