Rick Snyder must resign immediately

[malaise]

He poisoned those Flint kids with lead. This City Manager shit was always going to be an abysmal disaster.

[sharp_stick]

1. Yeah good luck with that

That weasely piece of shit is sure to have a fall guy in place.

[Yallow]

9. If Snyder Is Not Prosecuted He Will Have Got Away With Knowingly Poisoning Americans / Children

This pile of human feces need to be prosecuted.

Now.

If this is not a crime, then there is no crime.

[catbyte]

26. The Director of the Dept. of Environmental Quality fell on his sword. I'm sure it will end there.

Snyder has turned my state into the worst combination of Michissippi and a corporate hellhole. THIS is what happens when you elect a businessman governor. Money trumping public safety. I knew that the Emergency Manager law would be a royal clusterfuck, but even I didn't think they'd poison an entire city. Silly me. The most horrible thing about this is that nobody gives a goddamn. After all, they're just poor minority kids. It's a disgrace and a fucking tragedy.

[musiclawyer]

2. He's not resigning

Best option is a good class action suit managed by proven professionals.

[HereSince1628]

5. Yes, what did he know when? Is this depraved indifference

toward human health just to save the government costs of a safe utility?

The story as I've heard it is that poor quality of the water was known from the get-go. Why would no one in the water utility submit samples for tests for basic metals?

[MissB]

16. Because the water doesn't contain lead.

I have a certain amount of frustration around how science is reported in articles. I just finished reading the alternet article on this issue and their representation of the science behind the problem was horrifically wrong.

Anyway. The water supplied by the water system didn't actually contain mass quantities of lead. The new water source they were using was much more corrosive than the original source of water.

Corrosive water will leach lead from customers' pipes (if lead solder was used), faucets (has to do with how faucet metal is cast and coated) and fittings (like shut off valves.)

Warmer water that is corrosive will be more likely to leach any lead that is present in the pipes, faucets or fittings. Which is why it's always so important to use cold water from the tap (letting it run until the temperature changes, indicating you are getting "fresh" water from the piping in the street.)

I'm not making a value judgment about the decision makers. Just trying to point out the issue being the corrosive nature of the water.

[HereSince1628]

17. thanks for straightening me out on that.

[etherealtruth]

19. Exactly, however it doesn't diminish the culpability of the State of Michigan

Corrosivity and leaching of Pb (especially in old water distribution systems) is well known and very basic. I t begs the question: Why weren't adequate steps taken to prevent this (again, easy and basic)



Listen to "Not Safe to Drink," a special documentary about the Flint water crisis

http://michiganradio.org/post/listen-not-safe-drink-special-documentary-about-flint-water-crisis#stream/0


For those interested this is well worth the listen

[MissB]

21. I'm curious if the DEQ required

a round of sampling after the source water was switched. Even the NPR articles (which tend to get the science right) don't tell me whether or not the regulating agency required the city to do a round of sampling.

[etherealtruth]

23. Yes, but it seems they did source testing instead of point of delivery testing

.... and for whatever reason the MDEQ did NOT order corrosion control .... again, this is really basic water system delivery science.

I don't know if you have seen these articles but they are fairly good at presenting info


http://michiganradio.org/post/whos-blame-flints-water-crisis-virginia-tech-researcher-points-finger-mdeq#stream/0

http://flintwaterstudy.org/2015/09/commentary-mdeq-mistakes-deception-flint-water-crisis/

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/seven_key_takeaways_from_gov_s.html

[MissB]

24. Source testing wouldn't help at all of course.

Thanks for the links- that first one was very interesting. The state deq's interpretation of the lead and copper rule is, um, interesting? And by interesting, I mean "holy shit you have to be kidding".

I didn't agree with the suggestion that EPA shoud've yanked primacy over this - not really how EPA works. Would've been a clear message to the rest of the states though!

[hollysmom]

3. he is a republican as long as the kids are

brown or black and the whites who are there are poor, he is OK with it. Fewer people to vote democratic.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. They need to set an example.

Anyone with that kind of power is a danger to society in this anorexic, small government environment.

[hfojvt]

6. he's already got a fall guy

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/michigan-official-resigns-amid-flint-water-issue-35996502

[etherealtruth]

29. Wyant is definitely not a fall guy ...

.... the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (under Wyant) ... is largely responsible for this. This doesn't in any way absolve Snyder .... but Wyant is a co conspirator vs a fall guy

Phase 1. MDEQ Fails to Require Corrosion Control for Flint River Water (April 2014)

Effective July 1998, the federal Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) has required that all large public water systems maintain a program to control levels of lead in drinking water from corrosion. Moreover, the law also requires the City of Flint to have a state approved plan, with enforceable regulatory limits for “Water Quality Parameters” including pH, alkalinity and/or corrosion inhibitor dose measured in the water distribution system.

MDEQ never required Flint to have a corrosion control program, nor did it set water quality parameters for the new Flint River source water. While MDEQ asserts that they are acting proactively to get a corrosion control program in Flint, there is no provision in the LCR that allows for corrosion control to ever be interrupted.

As a direct result of this mistake, Flint residents have been completely unprotected from elevated lead in water from the moment the switch to Flint River water was made. This has created a conflict of interest for MDEQ ever since. Specifically, MDEQ’s failure to require a corrosion control program is what created the Flint water crisis in the first place–they now have a vested interest in covering up the problem.
http://flintwaterstudy.org/2015/09/commentary-mdeq-mistakes-deception-flint-water-crisis/

[Pauldg47]

7. Bernie must make them feel the burn w new legislation ....

....opposing this non democratic city manager shit.

You know, if he selects them, he's the King and he's the one to blame....down w the King....ah...I mean king.

I'm from Michigan and he's a loser!

[Gothmog]

8. Snyder is scum

[elmac]

10. Michigan keeps voting these fascists into office

even the working poor are right wing nuts. I think there is a problem with the water throughout the state.

[AZ Progressive]

11. When Democrats don't vote, this is what happens

Would this have happened if there was a Democratic Governor?

[MichMan]

32. Democrats helped get him elected

Democrats played a big role in getting him elected in 2010. Governor Granholm was term limited & given the economic issues facing the state she was polling very badly in 2009-2010. It was pretty clear based on polling that the next governor was most likely going to be a Republican. Her lieutenant governor, John Cherry could see the handwriting on the wall and declined to run.

Lansing mayor Virg Bernero stepped up and due to an aggressive campaign, was leading comfortably in the polls for the Democratic nominee against Andy Dillon, while the Republican race had five candidates with no clear frontrunner between Snyder, Mike Cox and Peter Hoekstra.

Michigan has an open primary and it was well documented that a lot of Democratic voters crossed over in the primary. So much in fact that nearly 2/3 of all the primary votes cast were on the Republican side. Snyder was viewed as a political outsider businessman with no previous political career or baggage, and with the help of the crossover votes won the primary rather handily. As expected he prevailed over Bernero by 20 percentage points in the general election

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. I hate Rick Snyder

But can we please stop pretending he's solely responsible for the water in Flint? Why no one is taking Detroit to task for putting Flint in the position where they needed to pull water from the Flint river is beyond me.

[burrowowl]

13. Some people should go to prison!

Among them the Governor!
The poisoned children will never be the same!

[malaise]

14. +1,000

If he had one shred of decency, he'd have resigned already

[bdwker]

15. Snyder.....Worst. Governor .Ever.

I really hate that slug.

[valerief]

31. Someone else pointed out in another thread that all governors named Rick

need to be taken out back and shot. I find it hard to disagree.

[Vinca]

18. Agreed.

And the State of Michigan needs to come up with truckloads of cash to fund all the medical/educational/behavioral needs of the poor kids they poisoned. Snyder and the idiot "manager" should face criminal charges as well. I'm still trying to figure out how a state can overturn an election and install a "manager."

[malaise]

20. Don't you love the outrage from Washington

All I'm hearing - crickets!!!!

I'll never figure out how ReTHUGs overturned that election.

[Vinca]

22. The only place I've heard this reported is MSNBC.

You'd think this would be a big story with reporters on the ground and politicians forced to weigh in. Maybe if Flint was a rich, white suburb . . .

[malaise]

25. They wouldn't dare to overturn an election in a rich white suberb

and corporate M$Greedia is a self-serving cesspool of select 'news'.

[still_one]

27. he should, but he won't

[joeybee12]

28. Absolutely...knr

[valerief]

30. He needs to be arrested immediately, but no rich people were harmed, so

it's okay.