Emails Show Michigan Government's Blame Game Over Flint Water Crisis

One state official referred to those voicing their concerns about lead levels in Flint’s water supply as “the anti everything committee.”

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Residents in the city of just over 100,000 people — most of whom are black and working-class — were subjected to massive lead contamination in the municipal water supply after the city stopped sourcing from Detroit and switched to the Flint River in April 2014. Children have since tested positive for elevated levels of lead in their blood.

President Obama declared an emergency on Jan. 16, telling reporters that he "would be beside myself" as a parent to discover the health risks the public water presented.

Snyder released the correspondences in "the spirit of transparency and accountability," but the 274 pages of emails between state officials about the increasingly unsafe water running through Flint's pipes shows a concerted effort to eschew responsibility.

BuzzFeed News has read through the emails and summarized the most striking findings.

When the City of Flint announced on April 25, 2014, that it would begin sourcing its water from the Flint River instead of from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD), citing a state official who said the water was safe to drink.

Protesters gather outside the state Capitol.

Al Goldis / AP Photo

However, in the same statement, officials acknowledged "some lingering uncertainty about the quality of the water."

In order to "dispel myths" about the water's questionable drinkability, the city conducted tests and studies by independent organizations, none of which were cited in the official announcement.

Mike Glasgow, who has worked for the City of Flint Water Service Center for nearly 10 years, said he had never detected abnormalities in the city's drinking water.

And according to Michigan Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft, the test results showed that the water was not only safe, "but of the high quality that Flint customers have come to respect."

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