Energy

Here’s How Much Employees Responsible For Flint Water Crisis Are STILL Making

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Andrew Follett Energy and Science Reporter
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A Michigan court ordered the state government Thursday to start paying almost $500,000 to six suspended employees who face 18 felony charges for oversight failures that helped lead to the Flint water crisis.

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) confirmed that its employees Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott will be paid $101,891 and $74,609 respectively this year, even though they have both been charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy and willful neglect of duty.

Employees of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality Stephen Busch, Patrick Cook, Michael Prysby, Adam Rosenthal will receive $93,000, $82,180, $74,880 and $71,697 in salary respectively, even though they have been suspended from their jobs on similar charges.

An average household in Flint, Mich. had an income of $41,682 in 2014. In addition to drawing salaries, the charged employees will be provided with legal council, which is not required by civil service rules.

“Given the uncertainty and the timeliness of the resolution of these cases, combined with the unique nature of this situation, the directors of the departments as the appointing authorities have chose to continue the suspension of the employees … with pay,” Jennifer Eisnersaid, a spokeswoman for DHHS, told The Flint Journal.

More than two years ago, the town of Flint decided to save money by switching Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to a local river. The state of Michigan, however, applied the wrong standards for governing drinking water, resulting in a system that did not properly control corrosion.

A class-action lawsuit against Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality alleges that the state wasn’t treating Flint’s water with an anti-corrosive agent, a violation of federal law.

Federal officials, however, are far from blameless. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official in charge of the region Susan Hedman elected not to publicize concerns of EPA’s water experts over Flint’s water quality or the water’s dangerous health concerns. EPA water expert, Miguel Del Toral, identified potential contamination problems with Flint’s drinking water last February and confirmed the suspicions in April. He authored an internal memo about the problem in June, according to documents obtained by Virginia Tech.

Instead of acting on the memo, the EPA sought legal advice and quietly fought with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for at least six months about what should be done. Hedman resigned in January as a result after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused her of  attempting to keep the memo in-house and downplaying its significance.

Flint is currently dealing with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a dangerous infection that usually spreads through a tainted water source.

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