The city of Flint, Mich., has been suffering from a water contamination crisis for over a year, and after the deaths of several due to possible connections to the lead in the water, the residents are now not only raising health concerns, but calling for the arrest of Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder. In his State of the State yesterday, Snyder apologized to the people, saying, "I'm sorry, and I will fix it."
The day before Snyder's annual State of the State address, roughly 60 people stationed themselves outside his Ann Arbor apartment, and called for his arrest. "Many of us think this governor has committed a crime, and want to see justice for Flint," said Jan BenDor, who helped organize Monday's protest, according to USA Today. "If that whole city could be poisoned, it could happen to any of us."
The contamination started in 2014 and has been ongoing since. The city of Flint switched its source of supply from Lake Huron water, treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to more corrosive and polluted Flint River water, treated at the Flint water treatment plant. The change was made as a cost-cutting measure.
"I'm sorry most of all that I let you down. You deserve better. You deserve accountability. You deserve to know that the buck stops here with me. Most of all, you deserve to know the truth, and I have a responsibility to tell the truth," said Snyder, during a 49-minute address, according to Syracruse.com.
"No citizen of this great state should endure this kind of catastrophe. Government failed you - federal, state and local leaders - by breaking the trust you place in us," Snyder continued, reports The New York Times. Snyder promised more accountability and said he would release emails related to Flint from 2014 and 2015.
"The Governor should not be allowed to operate in secret and outside of public scrutiny. Picking and choosing the emails that he wants the public to see is not accountability," said Melanie McElroy, executive director of advocacy group Common Cause Michigan criticising the move through which the emails will be available on the state website starting on Jan. 20, reports The Huffington Post.
