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EPA Criticized for Waiting to Warn Residents of Flint, Michigan

HeadlineOct 21, 2016

A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general has concluded the agency took seven months longer than necessary to warn residents of Flint, Michigan, about lead contamination in their water. The report found the EPA had enough information in June 2015 to issue an emergency order under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but the agency didn’t act until January of this year. Flint’s lead poisoning began when an unelected emergency manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder switched the source of the city’s drinking water to the corrosive Flint River in 2014.

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