Flint Water Debacle Raises Freedom-of-Information Issues

January 20, 2016

If the water coming from your tap is unfit to drink — if it is poisoning your children — you have a right to know. But the crisis in Flint, Michigan, is challenging that assumption.

The Safe Drinking Water Act is actually one of the strongest and most pro-active disclosure laws on the federal books — requiring drinking water utilities to inform customers of water contamination and to correct it. But the story of hundreds of poor, often African-American children in Flint being diagnosed with dangerously high blood lead levels is a story not just of government failure, but of failure to disclose.

That failure may be just starting to turn around. In his State of the State message Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder not only apologized to the residents of Flint, but "pledged to promptly release his emails about the issue," according to the New York Times.

Disclosure of those emails had not been a given. The citizen's group Common Cause Michigan had called on Snyder January 5, 2016, to waive executive privilege and release documents and correspondence on the water crisis. The company that runs the Flint Journal had done so as well. The governor's office had not immediately agreed to do so.

In the Flint situation, there is certainly enough blame to go around. State and local authorities may bear lots of it because austerity efforts failed to protect public health — and warn people of the problem. But the Safe Drinking Water Act gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department ultimate authority for enforcing the law and keeping people safe.

The Detroit News reported January 12 that EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman knew about the problem back in April 2015. Hedman told the News her hands were tied on informing the public.

The situation began coming to light partly because of emails released under public records requests by Ryan Felton of the Guardian.