Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to newly-released emails showing Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s top aides warned internally about problems with Flint’s drinking water as early as October 2014, but he and his administration allowed the city to continue using the Flint River for a full year:
“Today’s disturbing revelations are exactly why I called on Governor Snyder to release these documents a month ago-and why he needs to turn over the rest of the documents we requested before he testifies next month. These emails reveal that Governor Snyder’s top aides warned about water quality problems just months after his emergency manager switched the city’s drinking water to the Flint River. But large redactions cover up the deliberations of the Governor and his staff, so we still cannot see why it took his administration more than a year to reverse this tragic decision. It is difficult to imagine how many more children may have been poisoned as a result of this astonishing lack of action."
On Jan. 29, 2016, Cummings and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence sent a letter to Snyder requesting documents relating to the decision to switch the source of drinking water in Flint and the response to the health crisis that has ensued. Snyder ignored the request.
On Monday, Cummings sent a letter to Chairman Chaffetz requesting that he compel Snyder to produce the documents he and Lawrence requested.
Today, Snyder began releasing his e-mails related to the Flint water crisis from 2011 to 2016.
