In the wake of calls for his arrest after lead poisoning struck thousands in the city of Flint, Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder utilized his executive powers today to create an interagency coordinating committee to help solve the crisis. The committee will serve a number of roles; including coordinating communication on the crisis at the local, state, and federal levels, creating an action plan, and creating policy recommendations based on expert reports and informing the public. In a tragedy marked by terrible communication at all levels and unforgivable (and fireable) policy lapses, this seems like at least a step in the right direction.
There’s only one problem: the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is part of the committee. The same department that has undergone multiple resignations after reporting found mass discrepancies and at least a staggering negligence in almost every decision that led to the crisis. Does that sound like a recipe for success?
The department will have a new head and likely some new staffers, but the scope of questionable decisions implicates the entire department at multiple levels. If they couldn’t care enough about lives in Flint to stop them from an obvious and easy-to-prevent lead poisoning epidemic, what qualifies them now to clean it up?
The same goes to a lesser extent for the entire committee. The crisis in Flint is a failure on behalf of multiple state agencies, local officials, and the governor’s office itself. The committee only has three spaces that aren’t reserved for elected officials or experts, and even these (appointed by the mayor of Flint), could be filled by officials. In a crisis caused largely by negligence from people with no experience in the community, does Snyder really expect the committee to help?