Lauren MacKinnon
15 December 2017
Dr. Sharpe
Flint Michigan and Environmental Racism
One of the main environmental issues in the world right now is related to water. Clean water is seen as a necessity for life, and it has therefore inspired a fair amount of policy such as the Clean Water Act that was passed in 1972 that “aims to restore and maintain the nation’s waters in order to ensure health and safety” (“Summary of the Clean Water Act”). However, water pollution continues to be a problem around the globe. Many reports of polluted water come from third world countries where there are not many resources to aid in keeping water clean. Yet, just a few years ago, there was a giant water pollution problem within our own country. Because water pollution harms the human body in numerous ways, water pollution is extremely dangerous for those living around water supplies; however, water pollution is especially problematic when it inspires environmental racism.
The water crisis in Flint Michigan is one of the most recent, as well as most publicized, water pollution scares. Flint was once a city that was seen as a real life example of the American Dream as many African Americans came to Flint and were met by safety, community, and, in most cases, economic prosperity. However, according to “A Timeline of the Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan”, problems began in the 1980s when General Motors, whose largest plant was based in Flint Michigan, began to cut funding and downsize their plant which led to an economic decline in the city. Because Flint never recovered from this decline, the State of Michigan took over Flint’s finances in 2011 and an audit estimated that the city was in a $25 million deficit. Then, when in April of 2014 the city of Flint had still not recovered from the economic downfall caused in the 80s, the leaders of the city made a last ditch effort to try to save money. They decided to stop buying water from Detroit’s system and to instead begin drawing water from the Flint River as a temporary solution while they waited to test and implement a regional water system based out of Lake Huron. It was soon discovered that the water from the Flint River contained alarming amounts of lead and was essentially poisonous. The same timeline, “A Timeline of the Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan”, also reported that on September 24, 2015, a group of doctors urged Flint to stop using the Flint River for water after finding high levels of lead in the blood of children. Once again, state regulators insisted that the water was safe. However, this obviously was not the case as a few days later, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan pledged to take action in response to the lead levels ( ). His statement was actually the first acknowledgment by the state that the lead in the water was a problem.
Some may say that the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, did everything he could to help the citizens of Flint. However, upon further examination, it seems that the governor, as well as many other politicians in Michigan, did what they could to save money rather than to help the citizens. This all started when Snyder started appointing the emergency managers who were supposed to help the city to save money. It was those emergency managers that suggested changing the water source, and as part of their job description, they did not have to go through normal political procedure to get these changes approved ( video ). According to CNN, in October, about a month after he acknowledged the lead problem, Snyder announced possible solutions. He said that the state planned to spend $1 million to buy water filters and test water in Flint public schools. He even suggested that Flint should go back to using water from Detroit's system ( ). Flint did switch their water system back to Detroit at this point, however water filters only started to be given to families in early January, three months after the announcement came that the lead was a problem ( ). In those three months, it was up to each individual family to decide if they had the means to protect themselves from this harmful water as although the water system got switched back, some of the pipes being used were still incredibly damaged. The pipelines were damaged because as the state rushed to improve the problem with lead, they dumped insane levels of chlorine into the water supply which began eating through and corroding the pipes, and it ended up elevating the lead levels even more. To fix this, the chlorine levels were then taken down too low, which allowed bacteria to grow ( ). According to The Economist, almost a year went by before the public learned about the extent of the contamination they were facing.
Lead is proven to cause damage to adults, but it can be even more harmful to children. A study by Daniel Grossman of West Virginia University and David Slusky of the University of Kansas showed that in the year following the city’s change of water supplier, the number of births per woman aged 15-49 fell by 12% compared with the average over the previous eight years, while fetal deaths increased (The Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan Has Had Terrible Consequences for Residents' Health). That statistic is frightening, but it gets even worse. The authors warned that the 12% drop may be an underestimate, since their data accounted for neither abortions nor miscarriages that occur in the first 20 weeks of gestation, and it did not cover all hospitals. Similarly, lead can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure, lead attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions and even death; however, even children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with mental retardation and behavioral disorders (Lead Poisoning and Health). With all of this knowledge surrounding the harmful effects of lead, it is hard to imagine how the elected leaders of the state of Michigan could have overlooked and covered up the toxic water they were providing to the citizens of Flint. Lead poisoning is also known to contribute to poor academic outcomes and, just like the video showed, increased crime rates. However can it may actually take decades for all the consequences of Flint’s water crisis to become known.
Through the beginning of 2016, Governor Snyder continued to ask the Obama administration for major disaster declaration and more federal aid. The White House finally provided federal aid and an emergency declaration on January 16th, but they would not give the disaster declaration that Snyder desired. Around the same time Snyder asked for a disaster declaration and aid, the Michigan attorney general began an "independent review" into the Flint crisis. Finally, in March of 2016, State officials including Snyder and the state-appointed emergency manager who oversaw Flint when the water source was switched to the river testified before an understandably very angry Congress. A governor-appointed panel ended up concluding that the state of Michigan was "fundamentally accountable" for the crisis because of decisions made by environmental regulators. Two state officials and a local official were then charged with evidence tampering and other crimes in the Michigan attorney general's investigation. However, Governor Snyder was not charged regardless of the fact that it was reported that he was directly warned about the water issue as early as 2014. Because Snyder began to realize that many of the residents of Flint were becoming increasingly angry with him, In mid-April 2016, Snyder initiated his own 30-day Flint Challenge, where he pledged to drink solely Flint tap water for an entire month to show residents that it was safe. However, the Detroit Metro Times then reported that the governor left for Europe on April 23, therefore breaking his promise. It was only in December of 2016 that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality reported that the Flint water was finally safe to drink (The Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan Has Had Terrible Consequences for Residents' Health).
One of the main problems that arises with the Flint water crisis is that many argue that not enough was done to help the people of Flint because of their demographics. According to the US Census Bureau, 57% of the residents of Flint Michigan are black, and 42% are living below the poverty line. Many of the residents were forced to find their own solution to the water crisis, regardless of the fact that many of them did not have the economic means to create their own solution. One example of this is a man named Noah. He was born and raised in Flint, but he came from a family where his mom committed suicide and his dad abandoned him shortly after. While his parents got to grow up in an up and coming Flint, he had to deal with many problems, one of which was the water crisis, which he called just “one more tragedy piled upon a mound of oppression”. The problem is that although this water solution was meant to save money, it’s actually causing more problems and poverty in the long run yet legislators in Michigan let this problem go for a year and a half without offering a solution. This is a prime example, and it has been said to be the most horrific example in modern American history, of environmental racism. Environmental racism is defined by the Energy Justice Network as the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. The Republican Governor, Rick Snyder, didn’t treat the water situation like it was an emergency in 2014 or in 2015. Instead, he only finally broke down and declared a state of emergency in January of 2016 when the problem was receiving national and international attention. This is a reoccurring national problem because many politicians are so worried about money and their own image that they neglect environmental issues such as the water crisis in Flint. Although it may seem like Flint was an isolated event, I’m sure there are many other communities just like Flint across the nation whose safety is being compromised in the name of saving money. As a country, we need hold politicians accountable for their decisions regarding environmental issues like water pollution so we can ensure that as a nation, everyone is provided with the basic human right of clean water.
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