In today's Think Progress website, they report on the published study that looked into the causes of Flint's water woes.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/23/3762859/flint-investigation-s...

To say that it is breathtaking would be an understatement.

An investigatory panel tasked by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) laid the blame for the contamination of Flint’s drinking water with lead and other toxins on the state in a final report released Wednesday. “[T]he state is fundamentally accountable for what happened in Flint,” it states. “The Flint water crisis is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice.”

The report enumerates a number of shortcomings among state agencies, particularly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), which it says bears “primary responsibility” for the water contamination and “failed in its fundamental responsibility to effectively enforce drinking water regulations.” The report finds that the MDEQ misinterpreted the federal lead and copper rule, meant to protect Americans from lead in drinking water, and misapplied its requirements, leading to underreporting and high exposure for residents that went on for months. It also waited too long before accepting intervention from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) while failing to investigate the situation on its own.

The report also points a finger at the state-appointed emergency managers who were appointed to run Flint by Snyder due to the city’s precarious financial situation. That system “remov[ed] the checks and balances and public accountability” that come with leadership from locally elected officials. The report also found, contrary to the claims of former emergency managers such as Darnell Earley, that emergency managers and not Flint’s local officials made the decision to switch Flint’s water from Detroit to the Flint River, which was a first step in the contamination crisis.

The reptilian governor of Michigan, who created this mess all on his own, Rick Snyder, appeared before congress and heard several direct comments and suggestions, which can be best described as simply saying, "RESIGN. It is the right thing to do." Even though the GOP tried to spread the blame to the EPA regional director, this study clearly lays the blame on the state.

The report can be found at https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2774719/Flint.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Summary Statement

The Flint water crisis is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) failed in its fundamental responsibility to effectively enforce drinking water regulations. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) failed to adequately and promptly act to protect public health. Both agencies, but principally the MDEQ, stubbornly worked to discredit and dismiss others’ attempts to bring the issues of unsafe water, lead contamination, and increased cases of Legionellosis (Legionnaires’ disease) to light. With the City of Flint under emergency management, the Flint Water Department rushed unprepared into full- time operation of the Flint Water Treatment Plant, drawing water from a highly corrosive source without the use of corrosion control. Though MDEQ was delegated primacy (authority to enforce federal law), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delayed enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), thereby prolonging the calamity. Neither the Governor nor the Governor’s office took steps to reverse poor decisions by MDEQ and state-appointed emergency managers until October 2015, in spite of mounting problems and suggestions to do so by senior staff members in the Governor’s office, in part because of continued reassurances from MDEQ that the water was safe. The significant consequences of these failures for Flint will be long-lasting. They have deeply affected Flint’s public health, its economic future,1 and residents’ trust in government.
The Flint water crisis occurred when state-appointed emergency managers replaced local representative decision-making in Flint, removing the checks and balances and public accountability that come with public decision-making. Emergency managers made key decisions that contributed to the crisis, from the use of the Flint River to delays in reconnecting to DWSD once water quality problems were encountered. Given the demographics of Flint, the implications for environmental injustice cannot be ignored or dismissed.

The Flint water crisis is also a story, however, of something that did work: the critical role played by engaged Flint citizens, by individuals both inside and outside of government who had the expertise and willingness to question and challenge government leadership, and by members of a free press who used the tools that enable investigative journalism. Without their courage and persistence, this crisis likely never would have been brought to light and mitigation efforts never begun.

The report is over 100 pages long, and worthy of a look.

Attention TeaBuggered Governors!

When you pull your Ayn Randian policies out of your rectal cavities and apply her dismal, disastrous, and damaging ideas in the real world, people get hurt. Take a close look at Kansas. See the incredible long term damage done to the innocents who believed your bullshit. Take a look at Louisiana, and explain the massive deficits brought on by Jindhal. Look at what Kasich has done in Ohio, although the damage is not as severe.

Take Florida. Please. Look at the mess that Walker is creating in Wisconsin.

Finally, look at Michigan. Thousands of people damaged, possibly for life. You ruined their lives, Snydely. You DESTROYED their futures. Why? Because they are black? Their health, their lives, their futures don't matter?

If any private corporation pulled the crap that Snydely did, he or she would be in jail. Pity there are no prosecutors willing to try to apply such standards to state government.