Gov. Snyder, Michigan Department Of Environmental Quality Served Subpoenas Over Flint Water Crisis
FLINT (WWJ) - Governor Rick Snyder, the Governor's Office, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have each been served subpoenas in the wake of the Flint water crisis.
Lawyers for Flint residents who are part of a class-action lawsuit are seeking emails, text messages, and other items tied to the city's water service for the past five years. The request covers the time period of January 1, 2011 to the present.
Lawyers are interested in communications received or sent by Snyder, members of his staff, Emergency Managers Darnell Earley, Michael Brown, Gerald Ambrose and Edward Kurtz which relate to the Flint River as a source of drinking water, Flint River quality or the Karegondi Water Authority.
Governor Snyder has already released more than 250 emails and other related correspondence regarding Flint's drinking water.
[MORE: Protests, Water Deliveries Continue In Flint]
Meantime, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Monday named a former prosecutor to spearhead an investigation into the process that left Flint's drinking water tainted with lead. Todd Flood, a former assistant prosecutor for Wayne County, which includes Detroit, will lead the probe and be joined by Andy Arena, a retired head of Detroit's FBI office. Schuette said the two would play key roles in the investigation and prevent conflicts of interest since the attorney general's office also defends the state.
Flint switched from Detroit's municipal water system while under emergency state financial management and began drawing from the Flint River in 2014 to save money, but the water was not properly treated. Residents have been urged to use bottled water and to put filters on faucets.
Three class-action lawsuits have been filed again against the state, the city, emergency managers and other government officials on behalf of Flint residents.
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