6 Jahre nach der Flint-Wasserkrise wird Michigans Ex-Gouverneur angeklagt

„Die Gewährleistung der Wasserqualität in Flint und die Unterstützung der Menschen und der Stadt haben für mich und mein Team oberste Priorität,“ twitterte Rick Snyder. Jetzt wurde der ehemalige Gouverneur von Michigan sechs Jahre nach der Flint-Wasserkrise angeklagt. Die bahnbrechenden Anklagen könnten den ehemaligen Gouverneur von Michigan in den USA für bis zu einem Jahr ins Gefängnis bringen. Die Bleikatastrophe von Flint erlangte weltweit Aufmerksamkeit, nachdem berichtet wurde, dass während Flint mit einer Wasserkrise zu kämpfen hat, der Getränkegigant Nestlé in nur zwei Stunden Entfernung nur 200 US-Dollar pro Jahr für die Abfüllung von Wasser zahlte, während die Menschen in Flint für Gift-Wasser viel Geld zahlen mussten. 2017 hatte die Stadt laut einem Bericht aus der New York Times 8002 Briefe verschickt, um 5,8 Millionen Dollar an unbezahlten Rechnungen für Wasser und Kanalisation zu bekommen. Für den Fall, dass die Hausbesitzer nicht bezahlen, drohte ihnen die Zwangsvollstreckung und die Zwangsräumung. Die Anwohner waren aufgebracht und weltweit schlossen sich Menschen diesem Protest durch Petitionen an. Denn wie konnte es sein, dass der Bundesstaat Michigan, der damals immer noch mit den Auswirkungen seines Grundwasser-Managements zu kämpfen hatte, auch nur in Betracht zog, einer ausländischen Firma, die jährliche Profite in Milliardenhöhe daraus zog, noch mehr Wasserentnahme zu erlauben? Die Bürger wurden über zwei Jahre mit verseuchtem Wasser versorgt. 2014 wurde die Wasserversorgung von Flint umgestellt. Statt das Wasser wie bisher aus Detroit zu beziehen, sollte es kostengünstig aus einem nahe gelegenen Fluss kommen. Dazu wurde es durch alte Rohre in die Stadt geleitet. Weil das Wasser nicht ausreichend behandelt wurde, löste es Blei aus den Leitungen – die 100.000 Bewohner der Stadt klagten vermehrt über schlechte Gerüche, Kopfschmerzen und Hautausschläge. Der frühere Gouverneur von MIchigan Rick Snyder, soll bereits im Oktober 2014 von einem Ausbruch der Legionärskrankheit in Flint gewusst haben, als noch viel Zeit blieb, um Leben zu retten. Nach sechs Jahren, acht Monaten und drei Wochen, seit Flints Trinkwasser kontaminiert wurde, stehen Snyder, sein Gesundheitschef Nick Lyon und mindestens sieben weitere Ex-Beamte wegen ihrer Rolle im Skandal vor Gericht.

Wir hatten bereits mehrfach über die Flint-Wasserkrise berichtet und dazu auch eine Petition veröffentlicht. Nestlé war zu der Zeit der größte Eigner privater Wasserquellen in Michigan – und soll enge Verbindungen zum Büro von Gouverneur Rick Snyder gehabt haben. Deb Muchmore, die Sprecherin für Nestlé in Michigan, ist verheiratet mit Snyders früherem Stabschef. Siehe: Schon wieder Nestlé! Michigan verkauft gerade 800 Millionen Liter Grundwasser für 200 $ p. A. an Nestlé – Michigan is about to sell 210M gallons of groundwater to Nestlé for $200

Die Bleikatastrophe von Flint :

Seit dem Rückzug der Autoindustrie in den 1980er-Jahren ist Flint wirtschaftlich schwer angeschlagen. Fast die Hälfte der 100.000 Einwohner lebt in Armut. Gouverneur Snyder berief einen Notfallmanager, der den Stadthaushalt sanieren sollte und 2014 entschied, das Trinkwasser nicht mehr aus Detroit zu beziehen, sondern billiger aus dem örtlichen Fluss. Doch aus noch immer nicht ganz geklärten Gründen wurde dabei kein Korrosionsschutz beigemischt – nicht nur unüblich, sondern gefährlich. Viele veraltete Wasserrohre aus Blei fingen an sich zu zersetzen. Hohe Bleimengen lösten sich in das tägliche Trinkwasser.

2016 gab es Protest, nachdem Nestlé eine Erhöhung seiner Pumplizenz für die Quelle von 60 Prozent beantragte. Der Antrag, von dem die Behörde für Umweltschutz Michigans dachte, dass er in wenigen Monaten über die Bühne gehen konnte, hatte Widerstand hervorgerufen. Der Grund: das, was Nestlé für das meiste Wasser bezahlt, nämlich – nichts. Das heißt, der Konzern bezahlt nur eine Jahresgebühr von 200 $ für eigene (wie diese) oder geleaste Quellen. Siehe: Herablassende Reaktion von Nestlé – während der Konzern Wasser kostenlos abgräbt, werden Anwohner zwangsgeräumt – Where Nestlé Guzzles Water, Michigan Neighbors Take Exception – Overdue Bills for Unsafe Water Could Lead to Foreclosures

Die Bleivergiftung von Kindern und Erwachsenen, die sich aus einer Umstellung der städtischen Wasserquelle auf den Flint River im Jahr 2014 ergab, dominierte die nationalen Schlagzeilen, aber der Ausbruch der Legionärskrankheit war eine akutere Katastrophe, bei der Bewohner von Flint ums Leben kamen. Während die offizielle Zahl der Todesopfer durch den Ausbruch der Legionäre 12 betrug, ergab eine PBS- Untersuchung „Frontline“ in den 18 Monaten, in denen die Stadt Trinkwasser vom Flint River erhielt, einen Anstieg der Todesfälle durch Lungenentzündung in Flint um 43 Prozent. PBS berichtete, dass Wissenschaftler glaubten, dass einige dieser 115 Todesfälle durch Lungenentzündung auf die Legionärskrankheit zurückzuführen sind, die ähnliche Symptome wie Lungenentzündung aufweist und häufig als solche falsch diagnostiziert wird.

Am 13.Januar 2021 berichtete Associated Press, dass Snyder sowie der frühere Direktor des Gesundheitsministeriums von Michigan, Nick Lyon, und Snyders Top-Berater Richard Baird vom Generalstaatsanwalt von Michigan, Dana Nessel, wegen ihrer Rolle in der Flint-Wasserkrise angeklagt werden.

Rick Snyder, ehemaliger Gouverneur von Michigan, angeklagt wegen Wasserkrise in Flint

Rick Snyder – Flint, einer Stadt, die mit den Auswirkungen von bleivergiftetem Trinkwasser in Michigan zu kämpfen hat

Der ehemalige Gouverneur von Michigan, Rick Snyder, ist nach einer Untersuchung wegen ruinöser Entscheidungen, die die US-Stadt Flint mit bleiverseuchtem Wasser und einem regionalen Ausbruch der Legionärskrankheit zurückließen, wegen vorsätzlicher Pflichtverletzung angeklagt worden.

Die Anklagen, die am Mittwoch in einem Online-Gerichtsprotokoll enthüllt wurden, werden mit bis zu einem Jahr Gefängnis und einer Geldstrafe von 1.000 Dollar geahndet.

Die Anklagen sind bahnbrechend: Kein Gouverneur oder ehemaliger Gouverneur in Michigans 184-jähriger Geschichte war wegen Verbrechen im Zusammenhang mit ihrer Zeit in diesem Amt angeklagt worden, so der Staatsarchivar.

„Wir glauben, dass es keine Beweise für eine Anklage gegen Gouverneur Snyder gibt“, sagte Verteidiger Brian Lennon am Mittwochabend und fügte hinzu, dass die Staatsanwaltschaft ihm noch keine Details mitgeteilt habe.

Lennon sagte am Dienstag, ein Strafverfahren wäre „ungeheuerlich“ wäre. Snyder und andere sollten am Donnerstag vor Gericht erscheinen, gefolgt von einer Pressekonferenz der Generalstaatsanwältin Dana Nessel und der Staatsanwälte.

Neben Snyder, Republikaner, Gouverneur von 2011 bis 2018, werden Anklagen gegen andere Menschen erwartet, einschließlich eines ehemaligen Beamten, der als sein staatlicher Gesundheitsdirektor und als Senior-Berater diente.

Das unterstellte Datum des Vergehens ist der 25. April 2014, als ein von Snyder ernannter Notfallmanager, der die kämpfende, mehrheitlich von Schwarzen bewohnte Stadt im Mittleren Westen des Landes leitete, eine geldsparende Entscheidung traf, [nämlich] das Wasser aus dem Flint River zu nutzen, während eine regionale Pipeline vom Lake Huron im Bau war.

Das korrosive Wasser wurde jedoch nicht ordnungsgemäß aufbereitet und setzte Blei aus alten Rohrleitungen in den Häusern frei – eine der schlimmsten von Menschen verursachten Umweltkatastrophen in der Geschichte der USA.

Trotz verzweifelter Bitten von Anwohnern, die Krüge mit verfärbtem Wasser in der Hand hielten, ergriff die Snyder-Regierung keine nennenswerten Maßnahmen, bis ein Arzt etwa 18 Monate später erhöhte Bleiwerte bei Kindern meldete.

„Es tut mir leid und ich werde es in Ordnung bringen“, versprach Snyder während seiner Rede zur Lage der Nation 2016.

Familien in Flint begrüßen Anklagen

Die Behörden zählten mindestens 90 Fälle von Legionärskrankheit in Genesee County, darunter 12 Todesfälle. Einige Experten stellten fest, dass nicht genug Chlor im System der Wasseraufbereitung vorhanden war, um die Legionella-Bakterien zu kontrollieren, die eine schwere Form der Lungenentzündung auslösen können, wenn sie durch Vernebelungs- und Kühlsysteme verbreitet werden.

Die Katastrophe machte Flint zu einem nationalen Symbol für die Versäumnisse der US-Regierung. Die Bewohner waren gezwungen, für abgefülltes Wasser Schlange zu stehen, und Eltern befürchteten, dass ihre Kinder bleibende Schäden davongetragen hatten. Blei kann das Gehirn und das Nervensystem schädigen und zu Lern- und Verhaltensproblemen führen. Die Krise wurde als Beispiel für ökologische Ungerechtigkeit und Rassismus hervorgehoben.

In Flint begrüßten Familien die Anklagen gegen Snyder. „Sie haben die ganze Stadt vergiftet“, sagt Roy Fields Sr. über die Beamten, die gewählt und ernannt worden waren, um die Sicherheit der Bewohner zu gewährleisten.

Fields‘ erwachsene Tochter erlitt eine Fehlgeburt. Später entwickelte er [selbst] Hautausschläge, Furunkel und einen Hautabszess.

„Am Anfang dachten wir, wir müssten nur das Wasser abkochen und alles wäre gut“, sagte Fields, 62, am Mittwoch. „Wir kochten damit, tranken es und als wir von den Problemen damit hörten, hörten wir 2014 damit auf, aber es war zu spät.“

Er will, dass jemand zur Rechenschaft gezogen wird.

„Sie reden über Gefängniszeit“, sagte Fields. „Aber das nützt nichts. Lassen Sie sie hierher zurückkommen und arbeiten, um zu helfen, zu erziehen und zu tun, was sie können, um diese Gemeinschaft wieder herzustellen. Ich war feindselig. Ich musste ihnen verzeihen, um weitermachen zu können.“

Die Nachricht von der Anklage „ist ein Balsam, aber es ist nicht das Ende der Geschichte“, sagte Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, eine Kinderärztin, die geholfen hat, die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Gesundheitsrisiken für Kinder durch das Wasser in Flint zu lenken.

„Ohne Gerechtigkeit ist es unmöglich, die Narben der Krise zu heilen“, sagte Hanna-Attisha am Mittwoch in einer Erklärung. „Die Wunden zu heilen und das Vertrauen wiederherzustellen, wird Jahrzehnte und langfristige Ressourcen erfordern.“

Mehr als 9.700 Bleileitungen wurden an Häusern ersetzt. Flints Wasser, das jetzt von einer regionalen Agentur in Detroit kommt, bekommt gute Noten, obwohl viele misstrauische Bewohner immer noch Filter verwenden.

Die strafrechtliche Untersuchung hat fünf Jahre gedauert und wurde von zwei Teams von Staatsanwälten durchgeführt. Fadwa Hammoud, die das Amt von Todd Flood übernommen hat, ließ daraufhin die Anklagen in acht anhängigen Fällen fallen und sagte, die Untersuchung würde neu beginnen. Sie sagte, das erste Team habe es versäumt, alle verfügbaren Beweise zu sammeln.

Unabhängig davon haben sich der Staat, Flint, ein Krankenhaus und ein Ingenieurbüro auf einen Vergleich in Höhe von 641 Millionen Dollar mit den Anwohnern über die Wasserkrise geeinigt, wobei 600 Millionen Dollar aus Michigan stammen. Eine Richterin sagte, sie hoffe, bis zum 21. Januar zu entscheiden, ob sie eine vorläufige Genehmigung erteilt. Weitere Klagen, darunter eine gegen die US-Umweltschutzbehörde, sind anhängig, so ein der Bericht von aljazeera.com.

HOW A FLURRY OF SUSPICIOUS PHONE CALLS SET INVESTIGATORS ON RICK SNYDER’S TRAIL

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight others were charged with crimes stemming from lead contamination of the city of Flint’s water supply https://t.co/6QPmkxQrzJ pic.twitter.com/FvoYjQSen9

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 15, 2021

The former Michigan governor, his chief of staff, and health director were in close contact in October 2014, when Legionnaires’ disease in Flint was setting off alarm bells among officials.

By Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize – theintercept.com

January 13 2021, 9:58 p.m.

FORMER MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder knew about a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint as early as October 2014, when there was still a significant amount of time to save lives. That was the accusation of investigators looking into the Flint water crisis, according to documents compiled as part of a three-year investigation and obtained by The Intercept.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Snyder, as well as former Michigan health department director Nick Lyon, and Snyder’s top adviser Richard Baird, will be charged by the Michigan attorney general, Dana Nessel, over their roles in the Flint water crisis.

On Thursday, Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud announced charges against nine state of Michigan and city of Flint officials. Snyder was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor. The Michigan penal code lists a maximum penalty for willful neglect as a year in prison or a fine of $1,000. In announcing Snyder’s charges, Hammoud said “for willfully neglecting his mandatory legal duties under the Michigan constitution and the emergency management act, thereby failing to protect the health and safety of Flint’s residents.”

Lyon and Eden Wells, the former chief medical executive of Michigan, were also charged with felonies, including nine counts each of involuntary manslaughter. Baird also received a series of felony charges, including obstruction of justice, perjury, extortion, and misconduct in office. (The full charges are detailed at the bottom of this piece.) Hammoud concluded by announcing these charges don’t preclude prosecutors from filing additional charges against these defendants, or new defendants, as new evidence and witnesses present themselves.

According to multiple sources familiar with the investigation and documents obtained by The Intercept, investigators working on the case prior to Nessel had evidence to charge Snyder with misconduct in office in addition to willful neglect. The former criminal team also considered an involuntary manslaughter case against Snyder, according to multiple sources, but had not yet concluded their investigation when the majority of the team was dismissed by new AG Nessel, who announced a revamped investigation in 2019.

According to the findings of an investigation launched by Nessel’s predecessor, Bill Schuette, Snyder was involved in a mad dash of phone calls in October 2014 at the same time the deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint was raising alarm bells among state health and environmental officials — yet still unknown to the Flint residents drinking and bathing in Flint River water.

The criminal investigation was originally launched in 2016 when Schuette named a special prosecutor, Todd Flood, to run the investigation. That avalanche of calls, uncovered by investigators, included multiple conversations between Snyder, his chief of staff, and the state’s health department director. Other evidence from the same period — including briefings addressed to the governor that mentioned Flint’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak — led prosecutors to conclude the calls were about the outbreak, which was unfolding in real time.

Snyder, the evidence suggests, learned of the outbreak just weeks before his reelection in 2014. In 2016, Snyder testified to Congress that he first learned of Flint’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that January and held a press conference the next day. Yet in October 2017, Harvey Hollins, director of the state’s Office of Urban Initiatives, testified that he had informed Snyder of Flint’s Legionnaires’ issues in December 2015.

Lead poisoning of children and adults, stemming from a switch of the city water source to the Flint River in 2014, dominated national headlines, but the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak was a more acute disaster that killed Flint residents. While the official death toll from the Legionnaires’ outbreak was 12, a PBS “Frontline” investigation found a 43 percent increase in pneumonia deaths in Flint during the 18 months the city received drinking water from the Flint River. PBS reported that scientists believed some of those 115 pneumonia deaths could be attributed to Legionnaires’ disease, which has similar symptoms to pneumonia and often is misdiagnosed as such.

The Attorney General’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on charges against Snyder and others. Multiple requests to Snyder and Lyon received no response. In response to The Intercept’s inquiries, Snyder’s chief of staff Dennis Muchmore said he was “not aware” of the calls.

Witness Maryanne Tribble holds a photo of her father, John Snyder, who died of Legionnaires’ disease in 2015, during the preliminary examination of Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in Genesee County District Court in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 6, 2017.

BY OCTOBER 2014, six months after April’s Flint River switch, Flint residents had been publicly complaining for months about odorous, discolored water coming from their taps. Residents, including children, were showing city officials rashes spreading across their bodies. In August and September, Flint had issued a boil water advisory. As a result, Snyder requested a briefing on Flint’s water problems; on October 1, that briefing, which listed a waterborne disease outbreak as a trigger that could cause a boil water alert, was delivered to the governor. By October 13, state health department epidemiologist Shannon Johnson authored an email sharing her research and hypothesis that the “source of the outbreak may be the Flint municipal water.”

A day later, on October 14, Valerie Brader, environmental adviser and legal counsel to Snyder, wrote an “urgent” email to Muchmore, Snyder’s chief of staff, and other top officials pleading for Flint to discontinue use of the Flint River and return to Detroit’s water system. In a follow-up conference call between Brader, Richard Baird, who was known as Snyder’s right-hand man, and Darnell Earley, Flint’s emergency manager appointed by Snyder, Brader was told it would be too costly to switch Flint back to Detroit’s water system and that Flint’s water woes would be remedied. As reported in Vice News, after the call, Baird threatened Brader to not send anymore emails expressing Flint water concerns.

But it was October 16 and 17 that stood out to investigators, and seemed to indicate that Snyder knew about dangerous bacteria in Flint’s water in October 2014 — 16 months earlier than he testified to Congress.

The Intercept obtained phone records from search warrants that showed an all-out blitz of calls between Snyder, Muchmore, and the soon-to-be Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon.

According to phone records, on October 16 and 17, Muchmore and Lyon spoke nine times — far more frequently than they communicated before or since. After four of those calls, Muchmore immediately, or soon after, called Snyder. Before those calls, investigators found that Lyon and Muchmore had only spoken once via phone dating back to 2013: in August 2014, the same month McLaren Hospital, a member of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, first detected Legionella bacteria in their water supply.

Calls on October 16:

10:45 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for four minutes.
10:49 a.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for three minutes.
11:03 a.m.: Snyder calls Muchmore, the two speak for two minutes.
11:10 a.m.: Muchmore calls Michigan Health and Hospital Association, or MHA; the call lasts for two minutes.
11:12 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for two minutes.
11:15 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for three minutes.
11:24 a.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for two minutes.
11:29 a.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for four minutes.
11:51 a.m.: Muchmore calls outgoing Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, the call lasts for two minutes.
12:14 p.m.: Penni McNamara, MHA’s executive office manager, calls Muchmore. Muchmore and McNamara speak for four minutes. In an subpoena document obtained by The Intercept, special prosecutor Todd Flood wrote that the call between Muchmore and McNamara was “presumably about the [Legionnaires’] outbreak.”

At 12:32 p.m., Genesee County Health Department’s Stephanie Connolly emailed colleagues about a Legionnaires’ patient referral GCHD received from McLaren Hospital. “There was no connection with any previous admits to McLaren,” Connolly wrote, adding that the patient had “no travel hx, no recent dental work, no visits to the hospital per the client’s nurse.” Connolly’s email flew in the face of the Snyder administration’s eventual message that the source of the outbreak was McLaren Hospital — not Flint’s water system.

2:24 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes.
3:07 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the call lasts for one minute.
3:08 p.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for three minutes.
5:24 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the call lasts for one minute.
7:20 p.m.: Muchmore calls Corrigan, the call lasts for three minutes.
7:21 p.m.: Corrigan calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes. (The records indicate that this and the previous call may have overlapped.)

On the morning of October 17, county health department supervisor Jim Henry and colleagues spoke with Flint water plant officials about the presence of Legionella in Flint. In response to the county’s concerns, Flint water officials acknowledged the city was not testing for Legionella specifically and that the “distribution system has areas of concern.”

And the previous day’s calls between Snyder, Muchmore, and Lyon continued.

11:16 a.m.: Snyder calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes.
12:21 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, call lasts for two minutes.

At 4:31 p.m., Susan Bohm, an epidemiologist with the state health department, emailed epidemiologist Shannon Johnson, who four days earlier had shared her hypothesis that Flint’s municipal water was the source of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. Bohm wrote to Johnson that Liane Shekter-Smith, the chief of Michigan Department of Environmental Water Quality’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, had just called her, revealing that Genesee County Health Department called MDEQ about the Legionnaires’ outbreak and that “the Governor’s Office had been involved” in Flint’s water problems. Shekter-Smith warned that an imminent public announcement “about the quality of the water would certainly inflame the situation.”

An hour and a half after Bohm’s email about Shekter Smith’s Legionella-related call, Lyon — Bohm’s ultimate boss at the health department — and Muchmore spoke for the ninth time in two days. Muchmore immediately called the governor after.

6:06 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for six minutes.
6:12 p.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two spoke for four minutes.

Criminal investigators saw the entire sequence of calls, coupled with the resulting public silence and denials of any knowledge, as Snyder and his top officials working to stop news of the Legionnaires’ outbreak from emerging. Of the many calls that stood as red flags, Muchmore’s two calls with Michigan Health and Hospital Association, or MHA, stood out to investigators because of MHA’s links to McLaren, the hospital where Legionella bacteria was detected. McLaren Flint was part of MHA’s long list of member hospitals. The board of directors for MHA’s Health PAC was chaired by McLaren executive Thomas DeFauw; Gregory Lane, a McLaren Health Care senior vice president, also sat on the PAC’s board.

Special prosecutor Flood subpoenaed MHA in late 2016 to produce relevant documents pertaining to its communications with the Snyder administration about Legionella. In his petition to subpoena MHA, which was obtained by The Intercept, Flood wrote that MHA joined Snyder and his top officials in keeping the information about the outbreak from the public.

“This evidence shows the Governor, his administration, Director Lyon, and the MHA knew about this outbreak of Legionnaires’ in October 2014, and were interested in keeping the information from going public,” Flood wrote in reference to the avalanche of calls.

Flood went on to note that MHA and local water officials at MDEQ held a call on Flint’s Legionnaires’ outbreak on March 19, 2015. At the bottom of the meeting update, Janice Jones, MHA’s office coordinator, shared details of a call she received from MDEQ official Carrie Monosmith.

“Carrie has indicated that [the Legionnaires’ outbreak] is expected to hit the newspapers in Flint concerning the situation with McLaren and it is possible that MHA may be called,” Jones wrote.

“The content of this message conveyed by Ms. Monosmith is very concerning, because not only had the outbreak still not been disclosed to the public at this time, but the DEQ was proactively contacting the MHA in the event the news, ‘hit the papers,’” Flood wrote. “Moreover, Ms. Monosmith was not contacting the MHA to give them a heads-up that they, the State agency would be alerting the public. Instead she was issuing this warning because the situation had been intentionally suppressed from the public’s knowledge, and the MDEQ was trying to prepare for it getting out.”

In response to questions from The Intercept, Flood responded: “Ethically and legally the material you claim to have raises concerns. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the questions you are asking.”

In response to The Intercept’s request for comment, MHA spokesperson Ruthanne Sudderth wrote: “Given the recent announcement of pending legal charges stemming from the Flint water matter, I can only advise you of our policy that the MHA does not comment on pending or ongoing legal matters.”

IN ADDITION TO the onslaught of calls, criminal investigators uncovered meeting notes from an October 22, 2014, Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance managers meeting. On October 17, its chief, Liane Shekter-Smith, had warned MDHHS’s Bohm via email against the health department publicly announcing Flint’s Legionnaires’ outbreak while revealing the “Governor’s office had been involved” in Flint’s water problems.

According to the managers’ meeting notes from October 22, ODWMA officials discussed “Governor’s Briefings” that presumably had been, or would be, sent to Snyder. Those briefings included the mention of “an increase in Legionella” in Genesee County.

“Governor’s Briefings: Two boil water advisories in Flint, lead to all advisories to be sent to Director. Governor’s office to be informed of what’s happening. Coliform issue led to residual issue. GM now has issue with using Flint water and chloride. Genesee County seen an increase in Legionella, Maclaren has detected Legionella. Not detected in Maclaren incoming water.”

When the criminal team asked Dan Wyant, MDEQ’s director, about a governor’s briefings that mentioned Legionella, he became emotional, according to multiple sources — potentially indicating he had seen the document before. Wyant did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A briefing memo like this would have been unlikely to get past Snyder. He received most materials directly to his iPad and was, according to sources, an information sponge who read everything sent to him.

Seven days later, on October 29, Wyant traveled to Flint to meet with Earley, the emergency manager, and other city officials. Daugherty Johnson, a Flint water plant official, told investigators that Legionella in Flint was discussed in the meeting, according to multiple sources. Johnson also shared that Stephen Busch, an MDEQ drinking water supervisor, went into full-on damage control mode, reportedly warning that the Legionella issue “may blow” and become a public PR nightmare for the Snyder administration.

Two days after the meeting, Earley sent a thank-you email to Wyant for coming to Flint to discuss the city’s water issues. Earley then forwarded the email he sent to Wyant to Snyder’s right-hand man Richard Baird, offering to debrief him on the meeting. Baird responded boisterously, “Very good! Let’s get together after the election. Great work!”

Baird, who allegedly attempted to pay off sick Flint residents in order to silence them, is one of the officials set to be charged by the state attorney general, according to news reports. Baird did not respond to request for comment.

IN APRIL, the Flint water crisis enters its seventh year. Despite news headlines declaring Flint’s water safe to drink, residents who The Intercept has spoken to challenge such proclamations.

Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and leading water activist, challenged the state’s claims that Flint’s water is safe. “As of right now, the damaged City’s distribution mains still remain in the ground and our corroded interior plumbing, fixtures and appliances have not been replaced,” Mays said. “As long as our water flows through these pipes up into our taps, it will continue to be contaminated.”

While charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder, former health director Nick Lyon, Richard Baird, and others appear imminent, the finalizing of a $641 million civil settlement negotiated between Nessel and attorneys representing Flint residents also appears imminent. On Monday, nearly two dozen Flint residents held a press conference to oppose the settlement, believing it is insufficient and won’t be allocated fairly.

In response to news reports that Snyder will be charged with willful neglect of duty, Mays didn’t hold back. “The rumors that former Governor Rick Snyder is only going to be charged with a misdemeanor is BEYOND disgusting and insulting,” Mays wrote. “The Attorney General choosing to charge the man who made himself the unilateral dictator over my City, poison us, lie to us and watch us suffer with a small misdemeanor just proves to us in Flint that if you are a rich white man, it’s not considered an ACTUAL crime to poison poor, black and brown communities for profit, it’s only a minor fine and a slap on the wrist.”

Update: January 14, 2021
This story has been updated with the charges filed by the Michigan attorney general’s office. The charges are as follows:

Former Governor Snyder was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, each punishable by up to a year in prison and $1,000 fine.

Richard Baird, known as the governor’s right hand, received a series of felony charges: one count of misconduct in office, a five-year felony, for “improperly using state resources and state personnel”; one count of perjury, a 15-year felony, for lying under oath; one count of obstruction of justice, a five-year felony, for “attempting to interfere or influence ongoing legal proceedings relating to the Flint water crisis”; and one count of extortion, a 20-year felony, for “threatening a state-appointed research team during their investigation into the source of the Legionnaires’ outbreak in Genesee County.

Nick Lyon, the former director of MDHHS, was charged with nine counts of involuntary manslaughter, each a 15-year felony, and one count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor. Hammoud cited Lyon’s “failures and grossly negligent performance of his legal duties while director of MDHHS to protect the health of the citizens of Michigan in accordance with the public health code.”

Eden Wells, the former chief medical executive of Michigan, also received nine counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of willful neglect of duty. For Wells, two counts of misconduct in office were tacked on — each a five year felony — for attempting to prevent information on the Legionella outbreak from reaching the public.

Jarrod Agen, Snyder’s former chief of staff and communications director, was charged with one count of perjury, a 15-year felony, for giving false statements under oath. Agen had also served as Vice President Pence’s deputy chief of staff and communications director.

Two former Snyder-appointed Flint emergency managers, Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, were charged with misconduct in office, a five-year felony. Earley received three counts while Ambrose received four counts. Charges against both were connected to their actions related to the city’s finances.

Nancy Peeler, former MDHHS early-childhood health official, was charged with two counts of misconduct in office, each a five-year felony, and one count of misdemeanor willful neglect of duty, for “concealing and later misrepresenting data related to elevated to blood lead levels of children in the city of Flint.”

Howard Croft, former Flint Public Works Director, was charged with two counts of willful neglect duty, a misdemeanor of up to one year in prison, for failing to ensure the safety of the Flint water supply.