Corroding water pipes from Flint, Michigan
As the Flint, Michigan water crisis continues to devastate residents, the state’s attorney general has announced that three Flint officials will face criminal charges for wrongdoing today.
The three officials are former supervisor of the Flint treatment plant and current utilities administrator Mike Glasgow. The other two are Stephen Busch and Mike Prysby of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Prysby is a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality official. Busch was the Lansing district coordinator the DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance.
Glasgow has been charged with tampering with evidence and willful neglect of duty as a public officer, according to the court records.
The Associated Press reported that the three men will faces charged related to the various water laws in the state. There will be felony and misdemeanor charges as a result of them violating Michigan’s drinking water law. They will also face charges of official misconduct, destruction of utility property and tampering with evidence.
These three were at the forefront of an impending investigation into the city’s treatment plant.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have fessed up to negligence since the environmental crisis made headlines. Their decision to forego corrosion-control chemicals as part of the treatment process was disastrous mistake according to their apology.
This decision and negligence led to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, 12 people dead and many cases of lead poisoning. The EPA has gone on record saying that the environmental conditions will have long lasting behavior and mental health effects on those who drunk the water.
Michigan’s WZZM reports that the charges have been authorized by District Judge Tracy Collier-Nix earlier today. Attorney General Bill Schuette has announced that more charges will be filed.
