Flint, Michigan water (click here) is being monitored by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The Michigan agency is measuring lead levels at least back to 2010; most probably far longer than that; State of Michigan and Genesee County where Flint is located in a geopolitical designation. Flint is also the capital city of Genesee County.
While the state shows no spike in lead levels, Genesee and Flint have several lead level spikes since the third quarter of 2014. So, for over a year the children and their parents were exposed to lead levels in their drinking water. There is no reason for this and the Governor is completely negligent in his responsibilities.
There has been so much lead in the Flint water supply it spiked the county levels. Even with the Flint spike, the county's lead levels continued to decrease. I haven't looked at all the socioeconomic facts of Flint, but, it is my guess the wealthier and whiter communities were uneffected by this serious danger.
The state knew without a question that Flint was effected by lead levels and did nothing, but, hand out rhetoric to benefit cronies and friends.
At this point in Flint, the Republican Governor in Michigan will no doubt seek to place in question the methodology of lead testing by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The federal EPA must be involved with the citizens of Flint, no different than the hideous release of toxins in Dan River, North Carolina. (click here) No differently there was complete lack of effort in the Executive Branch of North Carolina to protect the people of North Carolina. In the case of North Carolina the Governor was a former employee of the polluter Duke Energy. The North Carolina Governor also received political donations by Duke Energy.
It wasn't bad enough these problems manifested, but, when brought to the knowledge of the public both Governors in Michigan and North Carolina lied to the public and continued to deny their incompetency. In the case of North Carolina, the regulating state agency was forced to publish lies and testify to them. It is known employees in North Carolina were faced with telling the truth or keeping their jobs. It was simply known by state employees there was to be no public awareness of problems or lose their jobs.
The longer this tragedy continues in Michigan the longer the people will suffer and the more assault to the state agency integrity will be pursued. The best outcomes in any state for the people is for the Executive Branch to be followed closely and when there are problems, the public is educated and the federal authority overseeing the issue is notified, preferably, by lawsuits. But, do this ASAP.
Where citizen health is involved waste no time in assuming the worst because it only causes greater danger to the public and potential of manipulating of the methodologies of state agencies. Basically, the state agencies will be made incompetent and will PROVE they are wrong into the future because they have been dismantled. Once the state agencies are dismantled the cry for privatizing agencies will follow. Then the costs go up for the citizen though property taxes and the citizen will lose more and more of their hard earned monies.
Below is the NC issue. The Republican Governor knew and sought to hide the truth and proceeded to corrupt the reporting agencies to prevent his loss of power.
The contrast in the response of a Democratic executive branch at the state level can be realized in West Virginia.
On January 9, 2014, an estimated 10,000 gallons (click here) of an industrial chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), spilled into the Elk River just upstream from the Kanawha County municipal water intake in Charleston, West Virginia. This municipal water system serves nearly 300,000 people whose water was affected by the chemical spill. Due to the uncertainty over the chemical levels in the water supply, the Office of the Governor issued a "Do Not Use" order at 6:00 pm on January 9, 2014. Later that evening, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources contacted CDC about the release and requested assistance to review water sampling data and provide a drinking water screening level for MCHM....
The tragedy in West Virginia was never denied and the state's Executive Branch rapidly realized the danger and called for help ASAP. I am not going to say everything following the recognition was absolutely accurate in the protection of the citizens, but, when one is working with a strongly conservative and corrupted state agencies, there will be incompetence. And, yes, I mean every word of what I stated here.
While the state shows no spike in lead levels, Genesee and Flint have several lead level spikes since the third quarter of 2014. So, for over a year the children and their parents were exposed to lead levels in their drinking water. There is no reason for this and the Governor is completely negligent in his responsibilities.
There has been so much lead in the Flint water supply it spiked the county levels. Even with the Flint spike, the county's lead levels continued to decrease. I haven't looked at all the socioeconomic facts of Flint, but, it is my guess the wealthier and whiter communities were uneffected by this serious danger.
The state knew without a question that Flint was effected by lead levels and did nothing, but, hand out rhetoric to benefit cronies and friends.
At this point in Flint, the Republican Governor in Michigan will no doubt seek to place in question the methodology of lead testing by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The federal EPA must be involved with the citizens of Flint, no different than the hideous release of toxins in Dan River, North Carolina. (click here) No differently there was complete lack of effort in the Executive Branch of North Carolina to protect the people of North Carolina. In the case of North Carolina the Governor was a former employee of the polluter Duke Energy. The North Carolina Governor also received political donations by Duke Energy.
It wasn't bad enough these problems manifested, but, when brought to the knowledge of the public both Governors in Michigan and North Carolina lied to the public and continued to deny their incompetency. In the case of North Carolina, the regulating state agency was forced to publish lies and testify to them. It is known employees in North Carolina were faced with telling the truth or keeping their jobs. It was simply known by state employees there was to be no public awareness of problems or lose their jobs.
The longer this tragedy continues in Michigan the longer the people will suffer and the more assault to the state agency integrity will be pursued. The best outcomes in any state for the people is for the Executive Branch to be followed closely and when there are problems, the public is educated and the federal authority overseeing the issue is notified, preferably, by lawsuits. But, do this ASAP.Where citizen health is involved waste no time in assuming the worst because it only causes greater danger to the public and potential of manipulating of the methodologies of state agencies. Basically, the state agencies will be made incompetent and will PROVE they are wrong into the future because they have been dismantled. Once the state agencies are dismantled the cry for privatizing agencies will follow. Then the costs go up for the citizen though property taxes and the citizen will lose more and more of their hard earned monies.
Below is the NC issue. The Republican Governor knew and sought to hide the truth and proceeded to corrupt the reporting agencies to prevent his loss of power.
The contrast in the response of a Democratic executive branch at the state level can be realized in West Virginia.
On January 9, 2014, an estimated 10,000 gallons (click here) of an industrial chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), spilled into the Elk River just upstream from the Kanawha County municipal water intake in Charleston, West Virginia. This municipal water system serves nearly 300,000 people whose water was affected by the chemical spill. Due to the uncertainty over the chemical levels in the water supply, the Office of the Governor issued a "Do Not Use" order at 6:00 pm on January 9, 2014. Later that evening, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources contacted CDC about the release and requested assistance to review water sampling data and provide a drinking water screening level for MCHM....
The tragedy in West Virginia was never denied and the state's Executive Branch rapidly realized the danger and called for help ASAP. I am not going to say everything following the recognition was absolutely accurate in the protection of the citizens, but, when one is working with a strongly conservative and corrupted state agencies, there will be incompetence. And, yes, I mean every word of what I stated here.
