In April of 2014, the city of Flint began to get its drinking water from the Flint River, switching away from Lake Huron water supplied by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. On top of the problems with e. coli bacteria and other contaminants and then the subsequent leaching of lead from home water lines, the Snyder administration is now […]

The human catastrophe unfolding in Flint is the direct result of the elimination of representative government (aka “democracy”) under Gov. Rick Snyder’s Emergency Management program. With elected officials unable to help their constituents, the citizens of Flint had only one place to turn: an un-elected, state-appointed Emergency Manager. And, because the EM has no one to answer to except the […]

Yesterday, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton issued a statement on the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan where their drinking water has been poisoned with lead due to misconduct by the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder. In that statement, Clinton called the actions of Snyder administration “unconscionable” and applauded the Department of Justice for joining the Environmental Protection Agency for investigating . […]

Imagine if you lived in a city where the drinking water supply had been poisoned by lead after cost-saving measures were enacted by an unelected, appointed official. Now imagine you were being billed for that “privilege”. Pretty outrageous, right? I mean who would have the audacity to bill people for THAT? Flint, Michigan, that’s who: Residents of the impoverished City […]

This afternoon I was on Sam Seder’s Majority Report radio show talking about the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water.

Here is the audio (my bit starts at the 10-minute mark):

Now that a state of emergency has been declared in the city of Flint over the poisoning of their drinking water by the Snyder administration, you might think that all resources are being brought to bear to resolve this human-made catastrophe. After all, the state government has a new website, Michigan.gov/FlintWater sporting a snazzy new logo and a quote from […]

It’s clear that the story of the poisoning of Flint, Michigan’s drinking water by the Snyder administration has finally broken through to the national news. It’s not only being reported by major national news outlets, presidential candidates are now weighing in. Today, Hillary Clinton issued this statement: The situation in Flint, Michigan, is extremely concerning. No parent should have to […]

No Snyder administration officials will be held accountable. And that’s exactly the problem. At long last, after activists and elected officials and even bloggers like LOLGOP and I have been sounding the alarm about the poisoning of Flint residents with lead in their drinking water, the story has finally hit the national stage. In the past week, in addition to […]

Nearly a year after evidence surfaced that there was a very serious, odorless, and invisible poisonous menace lurking in the water of Flint, Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder has finally declared a state of emergency in the devastated city: Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency for Flint and Genesee County Tuesday as a result of the contaminated drinking water […]

Last night, Rachel Maddow covered the Flint water lead poisoning story for a third time in the past month. In the segment, she lauded the Michigan press – including the ACLU’s crack investigative journalist Curt Guyette who wasn’t named explicitly – for their vigilance and doggedness in pursuing this story, something I agree with completely. For this report, Maddow brought […]

Four years ago in 2011, the city of Flint commissioned a report to investigate the use of the Flint River to supply water to the city. The report, which was sent to state officials in 2013 detailed the risk of lead leaching by the more corrosive river water and emphasized the need for phosphate corrosion control to prevent lead from […]