BREAKING: Snyder Administration Used Emergency Manager Law to Lock Flint into Drinking Poisoned Water

LANSING –– The Snyder Administration forced Flint residents to continue drinking poisoned water due to a dirty deal it signed with the city’s Emergency Manager in April 2015.

Thanks to a FOIA request, submitted by the Michigan Democratic Party to the Michigan Department of Treasury, we now know the State granted the city of Flint a $7 million emergency loan and restored democratic control of the city. But it came at a big price.

The Snyder administration explicitly forbade the city of Flint from switching away from the Flint River as its source of water until the completion of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) pipeline –– but that was not expected for at least another year. The deal was clear that they could not switch back to Detroit water, even as Flint citizens begged them to do so.

“This dirty water deal was forced on Flint by the Snyder administration, even after alarm bells were going off all over the Governor’s office that lead and Legionnaires’ disease were poisoning families. That’s simply unconscionable,” said Brandon Dillon, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.

The April 29, 2015 deal was signed six months after Snyder's chief legal counsel and Flint native Mike Gadola alerted other top officials, saying drinking water from the Flint River was “downright scary.” And it was three months after the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) warned Snyder’s office about a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease in Flint.

The agreement was signed by Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri, previously a high-powered lobbyist, and Flint Emergency Manager Jerry Ambrose. The deal shows how the Snyder administration consistently put political interests before the health and safety of Flint's families.

“The Snyder administration effectively put a financial gun to the heads of Flint’s families by using the Emergency Manager law to lock the City into taking water from a poisoned source,” said Dillon. “While children were being poisoned, the Snyder administration was playing political power games. State Treasurer Nick Khouri, who inserted this provision, should resign or be fired immediately. There has to be accountability.”



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