Lawmakers hold hearing on Flint

Former EPA official defends agency in water crisis.

WASHINGTON — Former city and federal officials pointed fingers at one another for failing to protect the 100,000 citizens of Flint, Mich., from leadlaced water at a congressional hearing Tuesday as Republicans targeted for blame an Environmental Protection Agency executive who resigned as the crisis worsened.

Amid withering criticism, Susan Hedman sought to defend the EPA’s actions to deal with the contamination in the predominantly African-American city. “I don’t think anyone at EPA did anything wrong, but I do believe we could have done more,” said Hedman, the former director of the EPA’s Midwest office.

Hedman stepped down Feb. 1 over what she called “false allegations” that portrayed her as sitting on the sidelines during the crisis and that she “downplayed concerns raised by an EPA scientist about lead in the water.” The scientist Hedman was referring to is Miguel Del Toral, a regulations manager in the groundwater and drinking water branch of the Midwest office, who had warned of dangerously high levels of lead in a June 2015 memo and later criticized the agency for not taking swift action.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, RUtah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Hedman “dismissed” the warnings.

“You screwed up and you ruined people’s lives,” Chaffetz said.

Flint, bankrupt and under the control of a stateappointed emergency manager, switched its water source from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River in 2014 to save money, but the water was not treated properly and lead from aging pipes leached into Flint homes and businesses. Elevated levels of lead have been found in children’s blood. Lead contamination has been linked to learning disabilities and other problems.

AP Former Flint, Mich., Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, (center right) and former state EPA administrator Susan Hedman testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Tuesday in Washington.