Photo from Gov. Rick Snyder's Twitter page
Gov. Rick Snyder, trying to reclaim some lost political capital, blames Flint’s water-poisoning on “career bureaucrats . . .[with] an absolute lack of common sense," The Detroit News reports.
Snyder, speaking Monday morning at Pancakes & Politics breakfast at the Detroit Athletic Club, sponsored by the Michigan Chronicle, said a “handful” of state employees opted against implementing $150 per day in chemicals to protect aging lead pipes from corrosive Flint River water, according to a report in the News by Holly Fournier.
“They elected to do two six-month studies instead,” Snyder says. “And look at the terrible consequences of that.”
He accepts a share of responsibility. .
“It’s a humbling experience; I mean that’s the honest answer,” he says. “It’s been a very difficult time period. But what I keep in mind is there are people suffering in Flint and I want to do something about it.”
Robert Allen of the Free Press, reporting on the talk, writes:
The night before he learned about the Flint water crisis, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he received a briefing "telling me that there really isn't a problem in Flint. That these outside experts aren't correct."
The next day, Sept. 28, 2015, he had a conference call with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Human Services.
"And I get on the call, and I push them, and they tell me, 'It looks like there is a problem,'" he said. "That's the kind of thing you never want to see. And talk about being upset, I was upset."
