Flint Water Crisis: Melissa Mays and LeeAnne Walters Discuss MDEQ Resignations — Transcript

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1. 0:04Melissa: First was little news. Josh Freeman, he used to be the president of city council was on
2. 0:09the kwa, the Karegnondi Water Authority, board decided that he was
3. 0:14going to resign effective December 31st. Which was ok by most people because they
4. 0:20didn't like him. But, also he has been very disparaging of our mayor at every single
5. 0:26city council meeting. Just...just awful saying that she shouldn't give citizens
6. 0:31hope and that the declaration of emergency is not
7. 0:36important because it's not a real fix. Although, that the door to the real fix.
8. 0:41So, that was the little news. So, we were like, "Oh, ok who cares no big deal". Then after that we
9. 0:48saw that Dan Wyant, who heads up the water division of the MDEQ decides to
10. 0:54resign with if an apology from governor Snyder which was interesting because
11. 1:00that's the first apology we've received from anybody on the state level.
12. 1:03Following that awesome chunk of news
13. 1:07Brad Wurfel resign. It was almost too much to handle. He is the spokesman for
14. 1:11the MDEQ who we absolutely despise. I guess to be honest because he said the
15. 1:18worst things. He said bad things about us as citizens. We had to sit through a
16. 1:23meeting with him and not choke him as he laughed at our photos and our
17. 1:28descriptions of what it's like to live in Flint with the water back in August before
18. 1:34we even had all the LEAD Data. He just chuckled and then he's the one that that
19. 1:39professor Edwards and his team they pull rabbits out of hats. They go
20. 1:43looking for LEAD. Saying that Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha actually just sliced and diced data.
21. 1:49He's also the one that told us all to relax there is no problem with the
22. 1:54LEAD. So, he's gone. Great news. Celebrating. It was awesome. Jack: What did you
23. 2:02think about the news LeeAnne? LeeAnne: I think it was long overdue. I mean we're not there yet
24. 2:08Steve Bush needs to go. Mike Prysby needs to go. Jack: Who are these guys? LeeAnne: Steve Bush is the director
25. 2:17of the MDEQ and Mike Prysby is the engineer for the City of Flint and that's why
26. 2:23they both need to not be working there anymore.
27. 2:26Jack: What were there roles in the crisis? LeeAnne: Well, Mike Prysby is the one that called me stupid at the dome
28. 2:32meeting back in January. Saying that my water did not look like what I was
29. 2:38presenting at the meeting and that I didn't know what I was talking about. And Steve Bush
30. 2:44was one of the gentleman that was in the meeting we were in Lansing in August who
31. 2:48was dismissing us and one of the people who said that the City of Flint
32. 2:53was one who decided not to use my LEAD although it was the MDEQ's
33. 2:59decision to not use the LEAD test. What the General Auditor found for that really
34. 3:07kind of irks me because they're saying that they were - the reason why they didn't use those tests
35. 3:11because they were no legitimate and that's a false statement because I did exactly what the City of Flint
36. 3:15told me to do when I did those tests. Jack: That was to disconnect your water
37. 3:21filter. LeeAnne: Yes and regardless if it was disconnected or connected it was not to pull out
38. 3:28anything besides aesthetics. So, it doesn't count on the list of filters
39. 3:33that you cannot use when you're testing for these kind of tests. Per what I was told by the EPA.
40. 3:42Melissa: Take that out even with her filter? I mean it was 104 and 397 that's a
41. 3:48problem. That test should have stayed in with a filter it was that high. So, why can't people
42. 3:52understand that? LeeAnne: Not just that, I was the only person, at that point, for that round
43. 3:57of tests that had a certified LEAD line. I was the only person who could say that I have a LEAD line
44. 4:05because it was done by the EPA when they pulled the pipes out of the ground.