Leeanne Walters - Local Flint Resident Leeanne Walters speaks before congressional hearing — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00my home used to be a place of comfort
2. 0:02and safety for my family it used to be
3. 0:04what a home should be a place of peace
4. 0:05and protection from the outside world
5. 0:08that was taken from us and not just from
6. 0:10my family but from every home and every
7. 0:12citizen in Flint now my home is known as
8. 0:15ground zero the people in Flint now
9. 0:17stand with the people in DC who suffered
10. 0:20their own L crisis a decade ago because
11. 0:22we now know the horror of poison running
12. 0:24through our Taps and the negligence of
13. 0:26the agencies paid to protect us in 2014
14. 0:30in a city with no democracy forced under
15. 0:32an emergency manager handpicked by
16. 0:35Governor Snider a decision was made to
17. 0:37switch the water source without the
18. 0:39proper testing and enforcement of
19. 0:41Regulation the mdq claims they
20. 0:43misinterpreted federal law regarding
21. 0:45corrosion control they were allowed to
22. 0:47tell EPA they were following the law
23. 0:49without any
24. 0:51verifications the citizens and Flint
25. 0:53were assured for 18 months that the
26. 0:54water was safe my home was being tested
27. 0:57because of the discoloration of my water
28. 0:59and the health issues my family was
29. 1:01experiencing we fought the city and the
30. 1:04state saying there was something wrong
31. 1:06and we were dismissed I decided we need
32. 1:09to get to the science if anyone was ever
33. 1:10going to believe us I started
34. 1:12researching and educating myself about
35. 1:14water I had three tests done by the city
36. 1:17of Flint using extra steps that tend to
37. 1:20minimize lead and water those numbers
38. 1:22were 104 parts per billion 397 parts per
39. 1:26billion and 707 parts per billion I
40. 1:30contacted the EPA and started working
41. 1:32with Miguel D Toro and Jennifer krooks
42. 1:34at the EPA Mr Del Toro was very thorough
43. 1:37and knowledgeable and assisting me I
44. 1:39told Mr deloro I did not believe there
45. 1:41was corrosion control in the water
46. 1:43provided him documentation about this
47. 1:45fact and he verified my findings and he
48. 1:48was Furious Mr deloro questioned the mdq
49. 1:51and at first they lied and then later
50. 1:54admitted the
51. 1:56truth I figured out that Miss krooks was
52. 1:58aiding the ndq with their
53. 2:00lies and Mr deloro was the only one
54. 2:03willing to address the problem I
55. 2:05requested a copy of Mr del Toro's report
56. 2:08and I made it public because people had
57. 2:09a right to
58. 2:11know with the report public Susan Hedman
59. 2:14EPA apologized to the mayor flint and to
60. 2:17the mdq because of policy no one but Mr
61. 2:21Doro was willing to do their job Mr
62. 2:23deloro was told by the ethics attorney
63. 2:26to forward all media requests including
64. 2:28those during his person time he was also
65. 2:31advised not to talk about about Flint or
66. 2:34to anyone from
67. 2:36Flint in a meeting I had with ndq lean
68. 2:39Sher Smith bragged to me about how Mr
69. 2:42deloro had been handled that his report
70. 2:45was flawed and that there would be no
71. 2:48final report this was the ultimate
72. 2:50betrayal for the citizens Susan Hedman
73. 2:53cared more about policy than the welfare
74. 2:55of entire Community while punishing and
75. 2:58silencing the one person that was
76. 2:59willing to help
77. 3:01us I started doing independent testing
78. 3:03with Virginia Tech and 30 tests were
79. 3:05done tests that were performed in
80. 3:07accordance to the LCR my average was
81. 3:102500 parts per billion my highest was
82. 3:1313,500 parts per billion hazardous waste
83. 3:16is 5,000 regardless of this information
84. 3:19and the fact that my son had lead
85. 3:20poisoning the city and the mdq still
86. 3:23continue to tell everyone the water was
87. 3:25safe as the EPA Sat by and watched in
88. 3:28silence because the state and federal
89. 3:30governments failed us with the help of
90. 3:32Virginia Tech we contested citizen-based
91. 3:34samplings we educated and distributed
92. 3:37300 samples equally throughout the city
93. 3:39we collected back 277 samples all of
94. 3:42this was done in a 3-we turnaround here
95. 3:45are the facts after the tragedy in DC
96. 3:48from 2001 to 2006 where children were
97. 3:51poisoned by lead and water the EPA
98. 3:53should have immediately Clos the
99. 3:54loopholes to protect our citizens had
100. 3:56the EPA closed the loopholes then could
101. 4:00have 100% pre prevented what just took
102. 4:02place in Flint EPA has failed to protect
103. 4:05people by refusing to ban partial lead
104. 4:07service line Replacements the epa's LCR
105. 4:10National report from 2006 states that
106. 4:13the lack of system response for Le
107. 4:15exceedence is especially true to inform
108. 4:16the public it is done less than onethird
109. 4:19of the time from my research I have
110. 4:22found that this is not a flint problem
111. 4:24or a rare anomaly this is a national
112. 4:26problem only 10 states test accurately
113. 4:29in according to the LCR 21 states do not
114. 4:32reveal their sampling instructions and
115. 4:3419 states have testing similar to
116. 4:36loopholes to the Michigan ones there is
117. 4:39no justifiable reason for testing with
118. 4:40loopholes except to hide lead these
119. 4:43loopholes that need to be eliminated are
120. 4:45pre flush small mouth bottles and cap on
121. 4:49stagnation I spoke against the N nwac
122. 4:52recommendations that we that are now
123. 4:54currently under advisement by the EPA to
124. 4:56change the LCR these recommendations
125. 4:58will weaken and already broken system
126. 5:00and I am outraged that the EPA continues
127. 5:02to allow this type of dishonesty with
128. 5:04testing to continue
129. 5:06nationally the citizens in Flint are
130. 5:08relying on each of you because we have
131. 5:10no choice we trust no one but Virginia
132. 5:12Tech there are people in Flint today
133. 5:14still not being assisted during this
134. 5:16crisis illegal immigrants disabled and
135. 5:19shuin broken policy and procedures are
136. 5:21smothering the outcry of an entire
137. 5:23Community suffering financially
138. 5:25physically mentally and emotionally I
139. 5:29urge you to help restore some of the
140. 5:31trust lost and protect all the citizens
141. 5:33in the United States by never allowing
142. 5:35this to happen again we need this to
143. 5:37happen now not 10 years from now thank
144. 5:41you thank
145. 5:43you
146. 5:45then thank you for the testimony