Prosecute Snyder and Co-Conspirators on Flint Poisoning

Finally the U.S. Attorney has begun to investigate the Snyder Administration’s deliberate and covert decisions to allow the people of Flint to be poisoned through the water supply. Did they sit down and make a deliberate decision to poison children with lead? Probably not, but they did make a decision to allow them to continue to be poisoned by covering up their knowledge of the poisoning and allowing it to continue. It is hard to see their behavior as anything other than a criminal cover-up.

Recall that the Emergency Manager (don’t even get me started there) decided to shift the source of water for Flint from the Detroit water system to the Flint River. Health advocates warned that the Flint River was unsuitable, but government officials at the DEQ under the direction of the Snyder “studied” the water and cleared it for drinking after cursory treatment for excessive levels of E. coli bacteria. As critics (including scientists and public health researchers) continuously published data indicating a serious health risk, Snyder and his staff publicly mocked them and provided falsified declarations of safety. However, we now know that behind closed doors they knew that dangerous levels of lead were being released in the water supply. As health professionals began to document increasing cases of lead poisoning, Snyder continued to publicly declare that the water was safe, even though he knew it was not.

The acts of the Snyder administration may be as criminal as a drunk driver running over and killing a child, then denying doing it. Hopefully, prosecutions will ensue, but in the meanwhile, the Federal Government needs to get involved and declare Flint a disaster area and provide emergency water supply and medical treatments to minimize the health damage done to the citizens.