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The governor's office posted emails he sent and received, though some are redacted (have blacked-out sections).
Gov. Rick Snyder released 274 pages of 2014-15 emails related to the Flint water crisis. Some show environmental and public health officials brushing off any sense of urgency and suggesting complaints were overblown for political reasons.
The governor sent just nine emails on the topic. The rest are messages to him.
"As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints From Flint," a headline in The New York Times declares today. Its coverage from Lansing says:
The correspondence records mounting complaints by the public and elected officials, as well as growing irritation by state officials over the reluctance to accept their assurances.
It was not until late in 2015, after months of complaints, that state officials finally conceded what critics had been contending: that Flint was in the midst of a major public health emergency, as tap water pouring into families’ homes contained enough lead to show up in the blood of dozens of people
In the message below, chief of staff Dennis Muchmore acknowledges last fall that former state Treasure Andy Diillon "did make the ultimate decision" about the city's switch to Flint River water, "so we're not able to avoid the subject."
He also tells the governor that leaders of the state environmental quality and community health agencies "feel that some in Flint are taking the very sensitive issue of children's exposure to lead and trying to turn it into a political football."
To read the emails, click here.
This email to the governor and top aides was sent four months ago by chief of staff Dennis Muchmore.
