Tag: EPA
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“Their swift action and smooth response ensured the safety and availability of Flint’s drinking water was undisturbed” – EPA Region 5 Director Debra Shore
By Tom Travis On the heels of a major GLWA water line break in mid-August, a federal representative, EPA Region-5 Administrator, Debra Shore, toured the Flint Water Plant and praised the Flint Water Department staff. The EPA’s Region 5 is the largest of its 10 regions. Region 5 comprises six of the eight Great Lakes…
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Despite public opposition, plans for Ajax Asphalt plant move forward
By Harold C. Ford Public opposition and appeals to state and Federal regulatory agencies have thus far failed to derail plans for an asphalt plant in Genesee Township very near northeast Flint. An air permit was approved by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) in November allowing Ajax Materials Corporation to…
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Eric Mays and Allie Herkenroder elected president and vice-president of city council
By Tom Travis The newly elected Flint City Council held their first meeting Monday night since last week’s election. In line with the rules of the charter, the City Clerk, Inez Brown called the meeting to order and chaired the meeting until a president was chosen. The longest serving council member, Eric Mays (Ward 1)…
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Mayor delivers progress report on Flint water with members of EPA, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
By Harold C. Ford “This community’s perseverance has been remarkable and your success has been remarkable.” – Michael Harris “Five years ago, Flint was in the middle of one of our nation’s greatest drinking water crises in our nation’s history. Understandably, trust in leadership and government was just as corroded as the pipes that tainted…
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“Transformational” federal funds to city, funeral home demo, funds for home repair, highway project topics at FNU
By Coner Segren Federal relief dollars coming to Flint will be “transformational,” Mayor Sheldon Neeley predicted at the recent monthly meeting of Flint Neighborhoods United (FNU). Participants in the Zoom meeting also heard updates about expected funds for several highway projects, prospective demolition of Brown Funeral Home, and access to funds for home repair. Neeley…
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Education Beat: Flint students returning to school buildings as COVID rates rise, water fountains still Inoperable, water filters not yet installed
By Harold C. Ford Flint Community Schools’ (FCS) K-3 students began returning to school buildings March 15. Students in grades 4-12 began returning March 22. At its meeting on March 17, the Flint Board of Education learned that 81 hydration stations (drinking fountains) funded by billionaire Elon Musk and the C. S. Mott Foundation are…
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$1 million-plus restoration project announced for Flint River-Swartz Creek confluence
By Harold C. Ford “Sometimes it’s the use of land, not for commercial purposes, that has the greatest value.” –U.S. Rep.Dan Kildee, (MI-5th District), in a statement to East Village Magazine, Oct. 14, 2020 A restoration project on the peninsula where the Flint River meets Swartz Creek — the “Flint River-Swartz Creek Confluence” — was…
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“Restoration” of sidewalks and lawns post-pipe replacement turns into labyrinth of delays
By Jan Worth-Nelson and Tom Travis When will the residents of Flint get their lawns and sidewalks restored following three years of water pipe excavations and replacement? The answer to that, yet another sign of how elusive “closure” can be in the years’ long community water crisis, is apparently — eventually. Like many other aspects…
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Congressional Democrats tour pipe replacement site, pledge ongoing support for Flint
By Jan Worth-Nelson When Ricky Baty, 55, got out of prison two years ago after six years behind bars, he came back to his childhood home on Milbourne Avenue in north Flint, where he and his brother have tried to keep things going after his father’s death. He noticed people getting water from trucks, and…
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Former Mayor Walling responds to NOVA film: “It was hard to watch”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, an omnipresent and embattled figure in the Flint water crisis until his defeat for re-election in November, 2015, sat quietly with his wife near the back of the auditorium last week as producers from the PBS science series NOVA unveiled their documentary, “Poisoned Water” to a Flint audience. (See…
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