The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press are reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton are asking Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to suspend all internal state investigations into the matter of the #FlintWaterCrisis.
Michigan Gov Snyder has apparently agreed to halt an already-completed Michigan State Police investigation of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
www.freep.com/…
www.detroitnews.com/...
Apparently a state auditor investigation must be terminated by the Michigan Legislature since the Auditor General is a legislatively authorized office. Snyder’s office already completed a “Flint Water Task Force” report and investigation. That latter “investigation” featured a committee that included Matt Davis, MD, the former Chief Medical Officer of the State of Michigan in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services who got the privilege from Snyder of investigating his own negligence in office (he was in that position prior to May 1, 2015). Davis has been quoted in the Detroit News saying he was unaware of both child blood lead levels and the ongoing-at-the-time Legionnaires Disease cluster in Flint while he served as Chief Medical Officer.
The Michigan Dept of Health and Human Services rejected calls by the Genesee County Health Department Environmental Health Director and EPA Region V staff to involve the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to inform the public of the Legionnella infections which had occurred after Flint River water became the raw water source for the City of Flint under
Snyder’s hand-picked Emergency Managers.
It is not clear why the Justice Department and Michigan AG Schuette waited so long while the Flint Water Task Force and the Michigan State Police investigations were ongoing.
The Justice Department and the Michigan AG are concerned about the Snyder probes tainting and interfering with their civil and criminal investigations of the drinking water quality and public health problems from the use of corrosive Flint River water.
Republican Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is expected to run for Governor to replace Rick Snyder, who is term limited.