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Michigan Attorney General Sues 2 Companies Over Flint Water Crisis Michigan Attorney General Sues 2 Companies Over Flint Water Crisis
(about 3 hours later)
CHICAGO — Michigan’s attorney general sued two companies on Wednesday that he said imperiled public health in Flint and contributed to the city’s crisis of lead-tainted drinking water. CHICAGO — Blame for the tainted water in Flint, Mich., has engulfed federal regulators, the governor, state employees and city officials. On Wednesday, the Michigan attorney general took sharp aim elsewhere: the private sector.
The companies, Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, were hired to advise the city about using the Flint River as its drinking water source. The companies did not sound alarms about lead contamination and were complicit in the series of events that caused lead to leach from pipes and poison children, said Bill Schuette, the attorney general. Bill Schuette, the attorney general, announced a lawsuit against two companies that he said imperiled public health in Flint and contributed to the city’s lead-poisoned drinking water.
“They failed miserably in their job,” Mr. Schuette said at a news conference in Flint. “Basically botched it — didn’t stop the water in Flint from being poisoned. They made it worse. That’s what they did.” The companies, Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, or LAN, were awarded contracts to advise the city about using the Flint River as its drinking water source. But, Mr. Schuette said, each failed to sound alarms about lead contamination, overlooked obvious problems and were complicit in the series of events that caused lead to leach from pipes and poison children.
The two companies swiftly denied the attorney general’s characterization of events. “They failed miserably in their job,” Mr. Schuette, a Republican, said at a news conference in Flint. “Basically botched it — didn’t stop the water in Flint from being poisoned. They made it worse. That’s what they did.”
Paul Whitmore, a spokesman for Veolia, said that the company was “disappointed” with the lawsuit and that it would “vigorously defend itself against these unwarranted allegations of wrongdoing.” Mr. Whitmore noted that a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder largely faulted the state government for Flint’s water problems. Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, said that she was alarmed at hearing that the companies may have been at fault, and appreciative of the continuing investigations. “It’s disturbing to hear that companies hired to ensure the safety of the city’s water supply may not have done what they were paid to do,” she said, adding that the city is still under contract with LAN, an engineering company based in Houston, which she said had received nearly $3.5 million from the city for work before, during and after the switch to the Flint River.
A statement from Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam said Mr. Schuette “blatantly mischaracterized the role of LAN’s service to Flint.” The lawsuit also named its parent company, Leo A. Daly Company, as a defendant. Veolia, an international water management company that is a subsidiary of a France-based company, had a $40,000 contract, a city spokeswoman said, and also received about $15,000 for work a few years earlier.
The attorney general’s lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Genesee County, was the latest fallout from Flint’s water crisis, in which a sequence of failures by government and businesses left the entire city fearful to drink from the tap and led to a series of investigations and political controversies. Advocates for the environment said Veolia had been accused of violations elsewhere, including polluting waterways and overbilling customers, leading to lawsuits filed in courts across the country. Residents were skeptical of the quality of its work in Flint.
In April, Mr. Schuette filed criminal charges against two state environmental regulators and one city employee who he said tampered with evidence and distorted water testing results. Governor Snyder has faced intense criticism for his handling of the crisis, and has promised millions of dollars in aid for the city. “I don’t have a Ph.D., but I know that if the water is brown, that means the pipes are getting torn up and something is causing the pipes to be torn up,” said Melissa Mays, a Flint resident who has protested the water conditions. “They should have figured out what it was.”
As criminal investigations continue, with more charges expected soon, Mr. Schuette said he hoped the lawsuit could lead to “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damages to help repair Flint’s rotting infrastructure and provide support to affected residents. The companies have already been sued by residents. The two companies denied the attorney general’s characterization of events and defended their efforts in Flint, though neither company made executives available to be interviewed.
Mr. Schuette was especially critical of Veolia, which consulted with the city after it switched its water source to the Flint River, resulting in contaminants’ turning up in drinking water. He accused the company of “callously and fraudulently” dismissing medical concerns and saying the water was safe. Paul Whitmore, a spokesman for Veolia, said that the company was “disappointed” with the lawsuit and noted that a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder largely faulted the state government for Flint’s water problems. Mr. Whitmore said the scope of the company’s work in Flint was always meant to be limited, and not focused on lead contamination.
A statement from Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam said Mr. Schuette “blatantly mischaracterized the role of LAN’s service to Flint.” The lawsuit also named its parent company, the Leo A. Daly Company, as a defendant.
The attorney general’s lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Genesee County, which includes Flint, was the latest fallout from the city’s water crisis, in which a sequence of failures by government and businesses left the city fearful about drinking from the tap and led to a series of investigations and political controversies.
In April, Mr. Schuette filed criminal charges against two state environmental regulators and one city employee who Mr. Schuette said tampered with evidence and distorted water testing results. Mr. Snyder has faced intense criticism for his handling of the crisis, and has promised millions of dollars in aid for the city.
As criminal investigations continue, with more charges expected, Mr. Schuette said he hoped the lawsuit could lead to “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damages to help repair Flint’s rotting infrastructure and provide support to affected residents, though he acknowledged that it might take years. The companies have already been sued by residents.
Mr. Schuette was especially critical of Veolia, which consulted with the city after its switch to using the Flint River resulted in contaminants turning up in drinking water. He accused the company of “callously and fraudulently” dismissing medical concerns and reporting that the water was safe even as residents reported health problems and complained about orange-tinted water.
“Can you believe that?” Mr. Schuette said. “Tell that to a pregnant woman, carrying her unborn child, whose bones, brains, kidneys can be severely damaged because of lead poisoning.”“Can you believe that?” Mr. Schuette said. “Tell that to a pregnant woman, carrying her unborn child, whose bones, brains, kidneys can be severely damaged because of lead poisoning.”
Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and activist, said that she and other activists had been focused on the companies since the beginning of the water crisis. Veolia North America employs about 7,800 people and operates water and sewer systems for cities. According to the company, it serves close to 550 communities in North America and treats more than 2.2 billion gallons of water and wastewater each day.
In early 2015, she recalled, a representative from Veolia appeared at a City Council meeting to report on the results of a water evaluation the company performed. For nearly a year, residents had been complaining that their water was foul and discolored, and blamed Veolia for its role. In March, LeeAnne Walters, a Flint resident whose children were poisoned by lead, filed a lawsuit against LAN, Veolia and other companies that were hired to carry out the switch to Flint water or evaluate its safety. Her lawsuit argues that LAN “did not require corrosion control to ensure that corrosive water was not delivered throughout Flint’s aging water system.”
“Veolia stood up and said that everything was fine,” she said. “City Council members were yelling at them, residents were yelling at them. It was bad. No one believed them at all. When your hair’s falling out and you have rashes and you’ve been yelling at the city for 10 months, you’re not going to believe this company.” In his lawsuit, Mr. Schuette accuses LAN of making matters worse by recommending the addition of ferric chloride to the water, which he said increased the water’s corrosivity and exacerbated the leaching of lead.
Though lead levels have been dropping, officials continue to recommend filtered or bottled water for drinking and the public remains leery about the safety of the water supply. The city has started to replace the old pipes that leached lead, but is running short of funding. Veolia has had its share of controversy. It was sued in April by the attorney general of Massachusetts, who accused the company of allowing more than 10 million gallons of raw sewage to contaminate a tract of state-owned land. The lawsuit, which also named the town of Plymouth, said that it was not the first time the company was at fault for polluting the environment.
“This is a case involving repeated, serious violations of state laws that threatened public health and our invaluable water resources,” Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general, said in a statement in April. Veolia responded that it was working on the issues and that many had been resolved.
Watchdog groups fear that once companies like Veolia sign contracts with their municipalities, they can exert powerful control over water systems, exposing residents to rate increases, overbilling and environmental damage.
Veolia’s involvement in Flint was far smaller in scope: It was initially hired to do an evaluation of the city’s water nearly a year after officials had made the switch to the Flint River. Afterward, Veolia proposed more extensive work in Flint for an estimated $1.8 million, but the city did not hire the company.
Veolia, in a statement, vowed to “vigorously defend itself” against the attorney general’s lawsuit and noted that its services there were limited.
“Flint hired Veolia nearly one full year after the change in water source, and the focus of Veolia’s analysis, at Flint’s direction, was only to help the city address concerns about the levels of disinfection byproducts (TTHM), discoloration, and taste-and-odor issues related to the drinking water treatment process,” the statement said.
LAN said on Wednesday that it was not to blame for the water quality, pointing to government employees instead. “LAN had regularly advised that corrosion control should be added and that the system needed to be fully tested before going online,” it said.
The lawsuit comes as Flint struggles to cope with the fallout of its water crisis. Officials say the water is improving, but is still unsafe to drink without a filter. Ms. Weaver’s efforts to start replacing the lead service lines blamed for the corrosion have largely stalled, and bids to continue the work came in higher than expected.
“The anxiety, the fear, the uncertainty is really having an effect,” said State Senator Jim Ananich, a Democrat who lives in Flint. “There’s a lot of people fighting, saying we’re going to come out of this stronger. But at the same time, on a day-to-day basis, when you can’t use your water, it’s really demoralizing.”