EPA Official Resigns over failure to act on Flint water problems

The EPA has accepted the resignation of a top official over the toxic water in Flint, Michigan.

Region 5 administrator Susan Hedman offered her resignation and will leave in February after it was accepted by Administrator Gina McCarthy, the EPA said in a statement.

Hedman, the EPA’s top Midwest official, had previously told The Detroit News the agency knew about the lack of corrosion control in the water supply as early as April, after an EPA official identified problems with the drinking water, but did not make the information public.

As we reported, Flint has had serious trouble with its drinking water after city officials chose to change their water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in a money saving measure.

While the EPA should certainly have publicized the information, shouldn’t the mayor of Flint and their city council face the bulk of the blame? Nah… Congress instead decided to “invite” Michigan’s governor to explain the city’s bad move and the EPA’s failures. The hearing is scheduled for February 3rd.

This is the first congressional hearing on the issue. Other invitees include Dan Wyant, former director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (he resigned in December), Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and Dr. Mona Hanna-Atissha, a pediatric doctor at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, who found and reported elevated lead levels in children’s blood.

Honestly, the mayor hadn’t been credited with finding the blood lead-level issue previously – that was always Dr. Hanna-Atissha. The fact that a democrat mayor is being hailed while the republican governor is being admonished makes the “invitation” seem overly-political.