You need look no further than the Flint, Mich., to understand why people have lost faith in government.
It鈥檚 coming to light that for nearly two years, federal, state and local officials 鈥 sometimes in harmony and sometimes acting alone 鈥 ignored memos, emails and blood test results that showed unacceptable and sometimes toxic levels of lead in tap water from the Flint River, and worse, in residents鈥 blood.
The contaminated water particularly endangered children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. University researchers found some water in Flint homes contained lead levels high enough to meet the EPA鈥檚 definition of 鈥.鈥
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Any Michigan public servant with a conscience should be examining it. Instead they鈥檝e been pointing fingers and trying to dodge responsibility. But heads have begun to roll and mea culpas have been said.
The apologies and the blame-taking are coming too late for people who have suffered permanent injury. The state and federal governments must do more to heal the devastation. In Flint, faith in government may never be healed. Reparations would be a start.
To that end, four Flint families have filed a federal class action lawsuit against Michigan and 13 other city and state officials for actions that led to 鈥渟erious injuries from lead poisoning, including autoimmune disorders, skin lesions and 鈥榖rain fog.鈥 鈥
The water problem was caused by Mr. Snyder鈥檚 effort, in the style of many sitting Republican governors, to run the state like the private business he used to run, Gateway Inc. (As a sidenote, that personal computer hardware company no longer exists.) Similar strategies employed by governors in Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wisconsin also have failed.
One of Mr. Snyder鈥檚 tactics was to appoint emergency managers to take over failing municipalities and school boards and to give them complete authority. It was one such emergency manager who approved a switch from the Detroit water system to the Flint River as the city鈥檚 main water supply.
One of government鈥檚 core duties is to protect public health. That didn鈥檛 happen in Flint, where authorities lied, denied and disputed facts. They made the victims of their poisonous water plan out to be the antagonists.
Too often, people without power and clout don鈥檛 count with government officials. A parallel situation exists here with Bridgeton鈥檚 West Lake Landfill. Three years ago, work began to build a barrier between radioactive waste buried at West Lake and a fire smoldering underground in the adjoining Bridgeton Landfill. The plan was scrapped but is now back in place.
Area residents want a final solution 鈥 either to have the toxic waste removed or encapsulated on site. The on-again, off-again barrier is only a stopgap. After seeing what happened in Flint, it comes as no surprise that they doubt government鈥檚 will to find a permanent solution.
