LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state of Michigan restricted Flint from switching water sources last April unless it got approval from Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration under the terms of a $7 million loan needed to help the city emerge from state management, according to a document released Wednesday.
By the time the loan agreement was in place, complaints about Flint’s water quality were growing louder, but officials had not yet discovered that improperly treated Flint River water had caused lead to leach from aging pipes.
At the time, Flint’s state-appointed emergency manager said that switching back to Detroit-supplied water would cost the city more than $1 million a month and that the Detroit water was “no safer than Flint water.”
Snyder eventually agreed about six months later to help Flint reconnect to a Detroit-area system after doctors found high levels of lead in Flint children.
But critics in the Michigan Democratic Party said that the loan document, obtained by the party through a public-records request, shows that his administration tied Flint’s hands and prevented earlier action. A top Democrat became the first state lawmaker to call for Snyder to resign.
“The Snyder administration effectively put a financial gun to the heads of Flint’s families by using the emergency manager law to lock the city into taking water from a poisoned source,” party Chairman Brandon Dillon said.
House Minority Leader Tim Greimel later added: “Given the actions of negligence and indifference by the governor, and a culture he has created that lacks transparency and accountability, the very serious call for resignation is warranted.”
Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said the governor is “fully committed to remaining in office and fixing the problems with the water in Flint and the problems within state government that caused this crisis in the first place.”
