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| FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2016 file photo, Gov. Rick Snyder speaks after attending a Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee meeting in Flint, Mich. A lawsuit stemming from Flint's lead-contaminated water was filed Monday, March 7, 2016 on behalf of the city's residents against Gov. Snyder as well as other current and former government officials and corporations. The federal lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, alleges that tens of thousands of residents have suffered physical and economic injuries and damages. |
FLINT, Mich.
(AP) -- A lawsuit stemming from Flint's lead-contaminated water
was filed Monday on behalf of the city's residents against Michigan Gov.
Rick Snyder as well as other current and former government officials
and corporations.
The federal lawsuit - which
is seeking class-action status - alleges that tens of thousands of
residents have suffered physical and economic injuries and damages. It
argues officials failed to take action over "dangerous levels of lead"
in drinking water and "downplayed the severity of the contamination" in
the financially struggling city.
Snyder's
spokesman Ari Adler said the administration doesn't comment on pending
litigation, but is "staying focused on solutions for the people of
Flint."
Numerous lawsuits have been filed on
behalf of Flint residents since a public health emergency was declared
last year. The latest lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and unspecified
damages, was filed on behalf of seven residents.
Two
recall petitions targeting Snyder over the water crisis have been
approved. The latest was filed by a Flint activist and approved Monday
by the Board of State Canvassers, the Detroit Free Press reported. The
other recall petition, filed by a Detroit pastor, was approved last
month.
Flint, with a population of about
100,000, had switched from Detroit's water system to the Flint River as a
way to save money until a new pipeline to Lake Huron was ready. But
during those 18 months, the corrosive water leached lead from the city's
old plumbing because certain treatments weren't added to the water.
Snyder, whose administration repeatedly downplayed the lead threat, now calls it a "disaster."
A
report by the state auditor general released Friday found that state
environmental regulators made crucial errors as Flint began using the
new drinking water source that would become contaminated with lead. It
says staffers in the Department of Environmental Quality's drinking
water office failed to order the city to treat its water with
anti-corrosion chemicals as it switched to the river in April 2014, but
also said the rules they failed to heed may not be strong enough to
protect the public.
The report came as crews in the city started to dig up old pipes connecting water mains to homes.
No
level of lead in the human body is considered safe, especially in
children. The river water also may have been a source of Legionnaires'
disease, which killed at least nine people in the region.
Flint
Mayor Karen Weaver announced Sunday that Union Labor Life Insurance Co.
committed to bring $25 million in low-cost loans to help remove lead
pipes and improve water quality. She said the loans will help her Fast
Start initiative that's designed to replace all lead service lines in
the city.
