Pressed to do more to ease the water crisis in the largely minority community of Flint, Michigan, the Obama administration moved Tuesday to install a water czar to manage the problem while the city’s mayor visited the White House.
The White House said the Department of Health and Human Services was designating Dr. Nicole Lurie, assistant secretary of preparedness and response, to be the administration’s lead person to coordinate the government’s response to the crisis.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest also noted that President Obama signed an emergency declaration last weekend that will provide up to $5 million in federal aid for Flint and its residents.
“The city and the citizens of Flint are going through a difficult time,” Mr. Earnest said. “We’re doing what we can.”
Mr. Obama met Tuesday with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, a Democrat who was in Washington to attend the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. Presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett also met with Ms. Weaver.
The White House said Mr. Obama, in his meeting with the mayor, “reiterated that his administration will continue to support state and local officials in their response.”
The president will travel to Detroit on Wednesday to attend the annual Detroit Auto Show and call attention to the auto industry’s rebound on his watch. But Mr. Earnest said the president won’t have time to visit nearby Flint.
“I would not expect that the president will stop in Flint on his trip,” Mr. Earnest said. “He’s obviously got a full schedule where he’ll spend some time talking about the tremendous economic recovery that the city of Detroit has made.”
Ms. Weaver said that Mr. Obama “needs to hear first-hand what’s going on in Flint.”
The issue took up much of the regularly-scheduled State of the State speech Tuesday night by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who pledged a fix in his appearance before the state legislature in Lansing.
“We are praying for you, we are working hard for you and we are absolutely committed to taking the right steps to effectively solving this crisis,” he said. “I’m sorry and I will fix it.”
The governor said the state would send more Guardsmen to the city, enough for every household to have been visited to make sure they have water filters, and would spend at least another $28 million.
Mr. Snyder also addressed the political side of the matter, saying he would soon release all of his emails on Flint’s water system Wednesday and would appeal Mr. Obama’s denial of a federal disaster declaration for the area.
Democratic presidential candidates on Sunday accused Mr. Snyder, a Republican, for mishandling the state’s response — and Mr. Snyder accused Democrats of “finger pointing.”
The water problems in Flint arose after a state-appointed emergency manager approved a switch in 2014 from Detroit’s water system to Flint River water to save money. Tests have shown high levels of lead in the blood of some children.
The city has switched back to Detroit drinking water, but many Flint residents are using bottled water.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said during a debate Sunday night that Mr. Snyder didn’t seem to care about Flint’s water contamination.
“We’ve had a city in the United States of America, where the population, which is poor in many ways, and majority African-American, has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And the governor of that state acted as though he didn’t really care. He had requests for help that he basically stonewalled.”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont has called on Mr. Snyder to resign.
Questions also have been raised about the EPA’s role. The agency’s top midwest official told The Detroit News that the EPA knew about the lack of corrosion control in the water supply as early as April but did not make the information public.
⦁ This article is based in part on wire-service reports.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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