LeeAnne Walters - Statement to Congress — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00mrs. Walters you're now recognized for
2. 0:01five minutes my home used to be a place
3. 0:06of comfort and safety for my family it
4. 0:09used to be what a home should be a place
5. 0:10of peace and protection from the outside
6. 0:12world that was taken from us and not
7. 0:15just from my family but from every home
8. 0:17and every citizen in Flint now my home
9. 0:20is known as Ground Zero the people in
10. 0:22Flint now stand with the people in DC
11. 0:24who suffered their own led crisis a
12. 0:26decade ago because we now know the
13. 0:28horror of poison running through our
14. 0:29tabs and the negligence of the agencies
15. 0:32paid to protect us in 2014 in a city
16. 0:36with no democracy for sundered emergency
17. 0:38manager handpicked by governor Snyder a
18. 0:41decision was made to switch the water
19. 0:43source without the proper testing and
20. 0:45enforcement of regulation the MDEQ
21. 0:47claims they misinterpreted federal law
22. 0:50regarding corrosion control they were
23. 0:52allowed to tell APA they were following
24. 0:54the law without any verifications the
25. 0:57citizens in Flint were assured for 18
26. 0:59months that the water was safe my home
27. 1:02was being tested because of the
28. 1:03discoloration of my water and the health
29. 1:05issues my family was experiencing we
30. 1:08fought the city and the state saying
31. 1:10there was something wrong and we were
32. 1:12dismissed I decided we need to get to
33. 1:14the science if anyone was ever going to
34. 1:16believe us I started researching and
35. 1:18educating myself about water
36. 1:20I had three tests done by the city of
37. 1:23Flint using extra steps that tend to
38. 1:25minimize lead in water those numbers
39. 1:28were 104 parts per billion 397 parts per
40. 1:31billion and 707 parts per billion I
41. 1:35contacted the EPA and started working
42. 1:37with miguel de toro and jennifer crooks
43. 1:39at the epa mr. del toro was very
44. 1:42thorough and knowledgeable and assisting
45. 1:44me I told mr. del Toro I did not believe
46. 1:46there was corrosion control in the water
47. 1:48provided him documentation about this
48. 1:51fact and he verified my findings and he
49. 1:53was furious mr. del Toro questioned the
50. 1:56MDEQ and at first they lied and then
51. 1:59later admitted the truth I figured out
52. 2:03that miss crooks was aiding the ndq with
53. 2:05her lies and mr. doc hora was the only
54. 2:08one willing to address the problem I
55. 2:10requested a copy of mr. del Toro's
56. 2:12report and I
57. 2:13made it public because people had a
58. 2:15right to know with the report public
59. 2:18Susan Hedman EPA apologized to the mayor
60. 2:21of Flint and to the MDEQ because of
61. 2:24policy no one but mr. del Toro was
62. 2:27willing to do their job mr. del Toro was
63. 2:29told by the ethics attorney to forward
64. 2:31all media requests including those
65. 2:34during his personal time he was also
66. 2:36advised not to talk about about Flint or
67. 2:39to anybody from Flint in a meeting I had
68. 2:43with MDEQ leanne schechter smith bragged
69. 2:46to me about how mr. del toro had been
70. 2:48handled that his report was flawed and
71. 2:52that there would be no final report this
72. 2:55was the ultimate betrayal for the
73. 2:56citizens susan hadn't cared more about
74. 2:59policy than the welfare of entire
75. 3:01community while punishing and silencing
76. 3:03the one person that was willing to help
77. 3:05us I started doing independent testing
78. 3:08with Virginia Tech and 30 tests were
79. 3:10done tests that were performed in
80. 3:12accordance to the LCR my average was
81. 3:152500 parts per billion my highest was
82. 3:1813,500 parts per billion hazardous waste
83. 3:21as 5000 regardless of this information
84. 3:24and the fact that my son had lead
85. 3:25poisoning the city and the MDEQ still
86. 3:28continue to tell everyone the water was
87. 3:30safe as the EPA sat by and watched in
88. 3:33silence because the state and federal
89. 3:35government's failed us with the help of
90. 3:37Virginia Tech weakened us at
91. 3:39citizen-based samplings we educated and
92. 3:41distributed 300 samples equally
93. 3:43throughout the city we collected back
94. 3:45277 samples all of this was done in a
95. 3:48three week turnaround here are the facts
96. 3:51after the tragedy in DC from 2001 to
97. 3:542006 where children were poisoned by
98. 3:56lead and water the EPA should have
99. 3:58immediately closed the loopholes to
100. 4:00protect all citizens had the EPA closed
101. 4:03the loopholes
102. 4:03then it could have 100% percent
103. 4:06prevented what just took place in Flint
104. 4:08EPA has failed to protect people by
105. 4:10refusing to ban partial lead service
106. 4:12line replacements
107. 4:13the EPA's LCR national report from 2006
108. 4:17states that the lack of system response
109. 4:19for let exceedance is especially true to
110. 4:21inform the public it is done less than 1
111. 4:25of the time for my research I have found
112. 4:27that this is not a flint problem or a
113. 4:29rare anomaly this is a national problem
114. 4:32only 10 states tests accurately in
115. 4:35according to the LCR 21 states do not
116. 4:37reveal their sampling instructions and
117. 4:3919 states have testing similar to
118. 4:42loopholes to the Michigan ones there is
119. 4:44no justifiable reason for testing with
120. 4:46loopholes except to hide lead these
121. 4:48loopholes that need to be eliminated are
122. 4:50pre flush smallmouth bottles and cap on
123. 4:53stagnation I spoke against the Nanette
124. 4:56NIT whack recommendations that we that
125. 4:59are now currently under advisement by
126. 5:00the EPA to change the LCR these
127. 5:03recommendations will weaken an already
128. 5:05broken system and I'm outraged that the
129. 5:07EPA continues to allow this type of
130. 5:08dishonesty but testing to continue
131. 5:10nationally the citizens in Flint are
132. 5:13relying on each of you because we have
133. 5:15no choice we trust no one but Virginia
134. 5:17Tech there are people in Flint today
135. 5:19still not being assisted during this
136. 5:21crisis illegal immigrants disabled and
137. 5:24shut-ins broken policy and procedures
138. 5:26are smothering the outcry of an entire
139. 5:28community suffering financially
140. 5:30physically mentally and emotionally I
141. 5:33urge you to help restore some of the
142. 5:36trust lost and protect all the citizens
143. 5:38in the United States by never allowing
144. 5:40this to happen again we need this to
145. 5:42happen now not 10 years from now thank
146. 5:46you
147. 5:46thank you