WASHINGTON D.C. (WKZO-AM) — The Flint water crisis was the topic at a congressional oversight hearing that began in Washington with lawmakers questioning their own chairman for taking Gov. Rick Snyder off the witness list.
Most of the questioning focused on why test results, which revealed high levels of lead in the water, were ignored for months.
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Keith Creagh, who was just recently appointed to the job after his predecessor resigned over the mistakes made in Flint, told the panel auditors are looking for those answers.
While most of those who testified blamed some other agency for the crisis, Creagh said each one of them was responsible for dropping the ball.
A number of state, local and federal officials will appear before the committee, but former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley refused a subpoena sent by Congress. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah told the committee that appearing after you have been subpoenaed is not an option, and he has ordered U.S. Marshals to “hunt down” Earley and serve him the subpoena.
Earley resigned from his current position, as the emergency manager in Detroit Public Schools on Friday.
Former Region 5 Environmental Protection Agency Director Susan Hedman also failed to appear despite a subpoena. She too resigned because of what happened in Flint.
– John McNeill
