Summary: The people of Flint, Michigan, feel that their contaminated water is “poison,” and now the Michigan attorney general has hired two lawyers to investigate what happened.
Michigan’s attorney general Bill Schuette has just hired two Detroit attorneys to lead the state probe into Flint’s water crisis, WSJ Law Blog reports.
Schuette’s office is responsible for defending the governor and state officials from any impending class-action suits. He said he hired two attorneys outside of his office to lead the probe to avoid conflict.
The attorney general hired Todd Flood, a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor and a current partner at Flood Law, PLLC. He will be assisted by retired FBI chief Andrew Arena.
The pair promised the people of Flint that they will receive a full report of their investigation findings.
In 2014, Flint’s water system became contaminated with lead after the city switched its drinking source from a Detroit system to the Flint River in order to avoid costs. During the change, the officials failed to install corrosion control systems.
The water crisis resulted in resignations of the head of the Flint Water Treatment Plant and state environmental officials. It is still being determined whether the city or the state is responsible for fixing the matter, and it is reported the federal government is also conducting an investigation.
On social media, numerous people posted images of the Flint tap water, which is brown and murky. They expressed their disdain for the local government, including the Republican Governor Rick Snyder.
.@onetoughnerd should resign immediately. This is absolutely OUTRAGEOUS. #FlintWaterCrisis #poison pic.twitter.com/10tU0dr92e
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) January 17, 2016
 cootey59: RT ZonkerPA: #Michigan governor #RickSnyder should be arrested. #FlintWaterCrisis #FlintLivesMatter #… pic.twitter.com/XRRfySnFEH — Livnfresh Michigan (@MichiganClothes) January 17, 2016
What you get when you vote for a party that wants to cut public spending and abolish the EPA. #FlintWaterCrisis pic.twitter.com/ruiCaFiM68 — Juan Calderon (@juancalderon) January 17, 2016
Source: WSJ Law Blog
Photo credit: Adam Stone/FreeImages