Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) talks to Poppy Harlow
on Jan. 27, 2016. (CNN)
While attorneys have subpoenaed all emails and communications between Michigan
Gov. Rick Snyder (R) over the ongoing Flint water crisis, a few details have
been released showing what can only be described as depraved indifference on
the part of state workers to the plight of Flint citizens.
The Republican governor released some staff emails on Jan. 20, showing that he was
well aware that Flint citizens were slowly being poisoned following a decision
by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to force them to live with
lead-tainted water.
Those emails, however, were heavily redacted,
including one dated over two years ago — on January 3, 2014 — that was
completely blacked out by the governor’s advisers over both pages.
Out of over 270 pages of communications released, one
comment was stunning in its admission of how shabbily complaints over the water
were treated by state workers.
According to the NY Times, Snyder was informed in one email that a state
nurse told one young mother to not worry about the damage being done to her
child when her son’s blood showed an elevated lead level.
“It is just a few IQ points. … It is not the end of
the world,” the nurse reportedly told the worried mom.
According to whistle-blower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha,
“If you were going to put something in a population to keep them down for
generations to come — it would be lead.”
The state of Michigan and Flint have already come under
attack for using a poster – created by the state’s Department of Health
and Human Services — informing parents that it was safe to bathe their children in the
contaminated water.
While the poster was pulled, an advisory remained on
the state website informing residents that the water is “safe to use for
washing because ‘lead in bath water will not soak into your skin fast or at
high levels.’”
Gov. Snyder’s administration
has until Feb. 9 to turn over all communications regarding Flint, dating back
to 2011.
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