In 2011, a mismanaged state government effectively took the reins from elected municipal officials and maligned the largely lower income and racially diverse population of Flint. The result was a cacophony of events that ushered in an unprecedented period of fear and confusion for the citizens of this southeastern Michigan town.
In 2011, Michigan enacted the Emergency Manager Law (“EML”) under the guise of the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act1. Furtherance of “health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Michigan” was touted as one of The EML’s purposes. Practically speaking, The EML effectively “guts” the city of its charter, elected officials, and usual business processes while leaving intact the city’s legal status. The democratic concern with the EML is that it grants sweeping power to state-appointed officials at the expense of the city’s elected officials. After the enactment of The EML, Flint was one of the first cities to come under state manager appointment. At that time, Flint was one of four Michigan cities with a predominantly African American population under the appointment of an emergency manager.
The events that occurred in Flint from the emergency manager’s appointment were on a trajectory for disaster. In April 2014 Emergency Manager Darnell Earley officially switched Flint’s water source from the Detroit River to the Flint River. Though the waters of the Flint River were significantly more corrosive than the waters of the Detroit River, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (“MDEQ”) decided not to add the necessary corrosion control chemicals. State officials assured residents that the water was safe to drink despite mounting evidence that it was not.
In October of 2014, General Motors discontinued its use of Flint water at its Flint facility after noticing rust on its newly manufactured automotive parts. Earley acknowledged the problem, but refused to switch the city’s water supply back to the Detroit River because it was cost-prohibitive.10 In response the state sampled Flint’s water in December of 2015, and found that exceedingly high lead levels triggered the need for corrosion control measures. The state of Michigan did not inform Flint of this finding.
In March of 2015, the Flint City Council voted 7:1 to return to Detroit water, however its vote was non-binding because the city was under the authority of the state emergency manager. In June of 2015, the federal government became involved through EPA Region 5. Region 5’s finding prompted EPA regulations manager Del Toral to write a memo expressing his deep concern for the absence of corrosion control programs in Flint’s water treatment procedure.14 According to Del Toral’s memo, the lack of treatment posed major concerns for the public health of Flint’s citizens. Del Toral’s assessment proved accurate when a September 2015 study indicated increased blood-lead levels in Flint children since the city had switched to the Flint River
Sadly, despite Del Toral’s memo raising EPA awareness of the water’s high lead levels from mid-2015, the EPA failed to act until January of 2016. Because lead has the most severe effects on the central nervous system, the issue of lead pervasive in Flint’s water supply was time critical; and the EPA, the MDEQ and emergency managers failed Flint residents. The Flint water crisis began with Earley, via EML authorization, switching Flint’s water supply.18 What followed was a bevy of federal and state officials acting in concert to deprive Flint’s citizens the most basic of life sustaining needs.
Mich. Comp. Laws Serv. § 28.702 (LexisNexis, Lexis Advance through 2018 Public Act 18)
Michelle Wilde Anderson, Democratic Dissolution: Radical Experimentation in State Takeovers of Local Governments, 39 Fordham Urb. L.J. 577, 581 (2011).
Courtney L. Anderson; Taking Flint, 17 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol’y 107 at 119.
Courtney Ann Warren, An American Reset – Safe Water & A Workable Model Of Federalism, 27 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol’y F. 51
Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts, CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/ us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/ (last updated Apr. 10, 2017, 12:38 PM).
Local Financial Stability & Choice Act, 2012 Mi. P.A. 436.