January 20, 2016
By Melissa Nana Burke
Washington — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (click here) admitted Tuesday it should have acted more swiftly in addressing the issues with Flint's drinking water.
An EPA spokeswoman told Reuters that the federal agency did not act fast enough in addressing the growing problem in the city.
While the federal agency worked to “repeatedly and urgently communicate the steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those necessary actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been,” the EPA said in a Tuesday statement.
While the situation in Flint was “unusual,” the EPA said its ability to oversee state environmental regulators’ management of the situation was “impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner consistent with the seriousness of the risks to public health,” the statement says. “We must ensure this situation never happens again.”...
That is all known information and established law. There is nothing new to know about clean and potable water. The EPA has to take steps like redundant warnings to build their case to act over the authority of a governor.
The responsibility lies directly with Snyder and his emergency manager. The EPA is a federal authority that could have made a difference if it acted earlier and with more determined actions. This is an important fact, but, it is ancillary to the crime.
The EPA didn't start the poisoning, but, should have and could have acted quicker to end it.
By Melissa Nana Burke
Washington — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (click here) admitted Tuesday it should have acted more swiftly in addressing the issues with Flint's drinking water.
An EPA spokeswoman told Reuters that the federal agency did not act fast enough in addressing the growing problem in the city.
While the federal agency worked to “repeatedly and urgently communicate the steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those necessary actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been,” the EPA said in a Tuesday statement.
While the situation in Flint was “unusual,” the EPA said its ability to oversee state environmental regulators’ management of the situation was “impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner consistent with the seriousness of the risks to public health,” the statement says. “We must ensure this situation never happens again.”...
That is all known information and established law. There is nothing new to know about clean and potable water. The EPA has to take steps like redundant warnings to build their case to act over the authority of a governor.
The responsibility lies directly with Snyder and his emergency manager. The EPA is a federal authority that could have made a difference if it acted earlier and with more determined actions. This is an important fact, but, it is ancillary to the crime.
The EPA didn't start the poisoning, but, should have and could have acted quicker to end it.
