Two-Day Hearing on Flint Crisis to be Held in Federal Court
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced a two-day hearing in a federal courtroom in Detroit regarding the Flint, Mich., water crisis. The hearing will address a motion for preliminary injunction filed in March 2016 by Concerned Pastors for Social Action, Flint resident Melissa Mays, NRDC and the ACLUS of Michigan.
More than two years into the Flint water crisis, a federal judge will hear arguments on the need for emergency action on behalf of many Flint residents who remain unable to obtain safe drinking water for their daily needs due to transportation or other access issues. Seeking to secure delivery of safe bottled water to people’s homes, the groups will ask a federal judge to order city and state officials to ensure all Flint residents receive safe drinking water.
“More needs to be done to ensure everyone has access to safe water—as well as the trust and confidence that their water is safe, a guarantee that most every other community in America has assumed for decades. That is still a long way off in Flint,” said Pastor Allen Overton, a leader for the Concerned Pastors for Social Action. “Churches and volunteer organizations are struggling to keep up with the demand for services—bottled water, filters and more—as money and volunteers dry up and leave us to fix this mess on our own.”
“For most Americans, getting safe drinking water is as easy as turning on the kitchen faucet. This is still not true in Flint, more than two years after the crisis began,” said Dimple Chaudhary, senior attorney for NRDC. “Many residents, including the elderly and those without cars, are struggling to travel to bottled water distribution sites, and confusion remains about how to install and use home faucet filters. This situation will not improve until a federal court steps in to compel state and city officials to act.”
“Without the court ordering the city and state government to deliver bottled water, children, the elderly and the poor in Flint will continue to struggle to find consistent access to clean, safe water,” said Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU of Michigan. “It’s unconscionable that, more than two years after the public learned that the water in Flint was poisoned with lead, so many residents still don’t have safe drinking water.”
“It's extremely important that improvements be made on the current recovery ‘efforts’ in Flint made by the city and state of Michigan,” said Melissa Mays of Flint. “Residents are still going without access to safe water. Those who do not have reliable transportation or cannot lift a 26.5 lb case of bottled water are slipping through the cracks during such a precarious and dangerous time. This must end.”
The first preliminary injunction hearing was held at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14. The second hearing is at 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15.
The location is:
Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse
Hon. David M. Lawson’s Courtroom
231 W. Lafayette Blvd., Room 716
Detroit, MI
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council