Bernie and Erin Brockovich op-ed on Flint: 'A matter of national security'

[bigtree]

erin brockovich ?@ErinBrockovich 3h3 hours ago
I've joined @BernieSanders in a call to save our water system - THIS IS A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY http://on.freep.com/1TiQZPQ #flint @freep


Flint just one example of need to upgrade water supply
by, Bernie Sanders and Erin Brockovich, Free Press guest writers

Flint is experiencing a disaster — and there isn’t anything “natural” about the circumstances that have left the city’s drinking water poisoned with lead.

The situation in Flint is what happens when public officials who, in their reckless zeal to slash government spending, jeopardize the health and well-being of the residents they are entrusted with keeping safe.

In April 2014, Flint’s water supply was switched from Detroit’s system to its own system using Flint River water — notoriously a dumping ground for industry. The move was a temporary change until the city joined a new regional water system. The switch took place when the city was under the control of state-appointed emergency manager.

Since the switch, residents complained of rashes, foul-smelling water and brown water. The city’s plan, approved by the state’s department of environmental quality, failed to treat Flint River water to keep lead from the city’s infrastructure from leaching into drinking water. State officials ignored resident complaints and some tried to hide the health threat from Flint residents.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha helped bring the problem to the public's attention after state agencies dismissed her concerns. A practicing pediatrician in Flint, Hanna-Attisha believes all of the city's 8,657 children under six years old should be treated as if they were exposed to lead.

Flint is a wake-up call to the fragile nature of our public water supply, but unfortunately, Flint is not alone.

While these types of crises tend to affect poor and minority communities disproportionately, they do impact families across the socioeconomic divide. The deteriorating state of our municipal water systems represents a clear and present danger to the health and welfare of all Americans. Everyone is vulnerable.

For three years, water in Hannibal, Mo., has tested positive for high levels of a chemical byproduct found to harm the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system with long-term exposure. The water in Gardena, Calif., turned brown and green last year. Just this month, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals deemed the water in St. Joseph Parish safe to drink, despite reports of dark brown water with a gritty-looking residue.

The list goes on.

How can it be that in 2016, millions of Americans wonder whether the water coming from their faucets is making them sick, or worse?

We recognize that the EPA is staffed by thousands of well-intentioned public servants. However, we also know that the agency is underfunded, understaffed and lacking in true enforcement power. Indeed, last year EPA mis-stepped in the case of Flint and did not alert state leaders or others when it learned of Flint’s water issues.

In 2016 it is unimaginable that thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans are facing a scenario where the water coming from their home faucet is hazardous to their health. This is unacceptable and we must act decisively. The EPA needs an overhaul to act in the interests of the American people.

As a nation, we have become obsessed with economic austerity policies and a laissez-faire approach to governing. Not only do we allow corporations to pollute our waterways, but the government has failed to keep up with critically needed improvements to our drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. That has got to change.

We must upgrade the treatment plants that provide safe drinking water and protect our nation’s rivers and lakes. We cannot rely on stop-gap remedies to solve our water issues. The use of chloramines, a combination of chlorine and ammonia to treat water, and other money-saving tricks have no place in our drinking-water rules.

We must commit to making environmental justice a national priority. Poor communities and communities of color, like Flint, are often the hardest hit by pollution from power plants, incinerators, chemical waste and lead contamination from old pipes and paint.

Perhaps most of all, the federal government must work for ordinary people, and not just the largest corporations that contribute unlimited amounts of money to fund political campaigns.

read: http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/02/13/flint-water-supply/80262902/

[kgnu_fan]

1. K&R

[farleftlib]

2. K & R

Although hasn't it been exposed that the switch to the polluted water was not a cost-cutting measure?

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/01/23/gov-snyder-lied-flint-water-switch-was-not-about-money-records-show/

A high-ranking DWSD official told us today that Detroit offered a 50% reduction over what Flint had been paying Detroit. In fact, documents show that DWSD made at least six proposals to Flint, saying “the KWA pipeline can only be attributed to a ‘political’ objective that has nothing to do with the delivery – or the price – of water.” ...

“If Snyder had accept this deal, the catastrophe would have been avoided,” Bill Johnson said.

What’s more, an engineering firm hired by the state’s Department of Treasury released a study in February 2013 that expressed concerns about the financial and operational risks of building the KWA pipeline, which had already cost 24% more than originally projected, and that’s not including anticipated cost overruns in the future.

Kudos to Sec Clinton for raising awareness about the Flint debacle too.

[bigtree]

3. kick

[jillan]

4. Huge K & R!! 2 of my favorite activists.

[99th_Monkey]

5. Reckety-Kick nt

[cantbeserious]

6. K&R

eom

[A Simple Game]

7. This caught my eye.

As a nation, we have become obsessed with economic austerity policies

Here's my quick solution, let's close some military bases starting with Guantanamo Bay. For every dollar saved we use 50 cents for debt reduction and 50 cents to retrain the troops as construction workers, or whatever they would like to be as civilians, and the rest for infrastructure upgrades. Then move on to Europe and start cutting then on to...

[PufPuf23]

8. What has happened in Flint regards water is a horror.

I expect that the forces that caused the problem will use the failure to the people as a justification for subsequent privatization of domestic water supplies in Flint., Michigan and elsewhere.

[citizen blues]

9. This isn't the only National Security Crisis we're having that no one's talking about

Eisenhower built the interstate highway system at the height of the Cold War for civil defense. Now it, along with all of our infrastructure is crumbling. A huge breach in our National Security and no one is talking about it.

[cprise]

10. Big K&R!

[zalinda]

11. Here is Syracuse

we still have lead pipes. I don't know if it is in the total delivery system, or just to the house. I know if I want to change the lead pipe that is in my house to the existing system, I have to pay for it, and it is a huge sum of money. It is also a huge amount of money to get that lead pipe repaired, as you have to have a master plumber do it. Not all plumbers are trained in fixing lead pipes. Back in the early 80's it cost me $80 to fix a tiny hole in the lead pipe coming in, and the water had to be off for days because finding a master plumber was not easy and they are really booked up.

There is so much infrastructure that has to be fixed, it's crazy. Oh, and let's not forget solar. My roof is perfect for solar, with one side getting sun all day long. I can't afford the cost, but if the city underwrote it, it would be great. One village here in NY has their own electrical grid and the electricity is probably 1/3 the cost of normal electricity.

Z

[swilton]

12. I've said this about other environmental crises

beginning with the Exxon Valdez and continuing with Hurricane Katrina and the Enron oil spill. If a foreign country had caused this disaster, we would have bombed it into the stone age long ago.

It's time to treat the environment as a matter of this country's national interest (i.e., including the environment in the definition of 'national security'). Our elected leaders seem to be unable to deal with problems such as Flint drinking water unless they have military solutions.