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Flint: Emails Suggest Snyder Withheld Lead Test Results for 6 Days

HeadlineFeb 12, 2016

In news from Flint, new emails obtained by The Flint Journal suggest Michigan Governor Rick Snyder told the Department of Environmental Quality to withhold information about the results of lead tests for nearly a week as Snyder’s office tried to determine the best way to present the information to the public. The emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that the Department of Environmental Quality withheld the lead test results from Genesee County health officials for at least six days. Agency officials later apologized to the health department officials for the delay, saying the Governor’s Office had asked them not to disclose the information until a scheduled press conference on October 8, 2015. This press conference was when Snyder announced that Flint would reconnect to Detroit’s water system. Under the direction of an unelected emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder, the city had switched the source of its drinking water to the corrosive Flint River, which caused the city’s lead pipes to corrode, spiking the level of lead in the drinking water. Snyder’s office has denied that it withheld the information about the results of the lead tests.

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