Demand accountability and justice for the people of Flint

Petition text:

To: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel

Dear Attorney General Nessel,

Today marks ten years since a state-appointed emergency manager pushed through the switch of the source of Flint’s water supply, leading to mass lead and bacterial contamination. The people of Flint have been living with the impacts of this decision – and the series of government failures and corporate abuses that followed – ever since.

Far too many have so far escaped accountability for their roles in the water crisis – from former Governor Rick Snyder, whose anti-democratic emergency management system endangered an estimated 140,000 people¹, to the world’s largest private water corporation Veolia, which told the city its water was safe despite privately acknowledging the potential for lead contamination². Meanwhile, Flint still doesn’t have access to safe, reliable drinking water and a federal judge recently found the city in contempt of the court for its failure to replace lead pipes³. And Flint families continue to pay the price with their physical health, emotional well-being, and pocketbooks.

You ran for Attorney General as a “prosecutor who won’t back down.” You ran on the platform of environmental protection, with justice for Flint front and center. You promised to be the people’s attorney⁴.

We, the undersigned, urge you not to give up on justice for Flint. We stand in solidarity with the people of Flint and uplift their demands that you:

• Utilize all legal avenues available to hold Veolia, public officials, and all other responsible parties accountable for their roles in the crisis, while prioritizing the pending cases that have stalled.
• Use your power and influence to ensure that the Flint lead pipe settlement of 2017, to which the State of Michigan is party⁵, is fulfilled through the replacement of all lead pipes at no cost to Flint residents.
• Meet with Flint residents in an open community meeting to hear their concerns and answer their questions, including how you can use your consumer protection mandate to prevent water privatization and the exploitation of communities in Michigan by corporations like Veolia in the future.

1. Perri Zeitz Ruckart et al., “The Flint Water Crisis: A Coordinated Public Health Emergency Response and Recovery Initiative,” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice : JPHMP 25, no. Suppl 1 LEAD POISONING PREVENTION (2019): S84–90, https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000871.
2. Emily Holden and Jessica Glenza, “Revealed: water company and city officials knew about Flint poison risk,” The Guardian, December 10, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/10/water-company-city-officials-knew-flint-lead-risk-emails-michigan-tap-water.
3. Associated Press, “Federal judge finds city of Flint in contempt over lead water pipe crisis,” CBS News, March 13, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/federal-judge-finds-flint-in-contempt-over-lead-water-pipe-crisis/.
4. Nathalie Baptiste, “The Future of the Flint Water Crisis Is on the November Ballot – Mother Jones,” Mother Jones, October 29, 2018, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/dana-nessel-tom-leonard-the-future-of-the-flint-water-crisis-is-on-the-november-ballot/.
5. National Resources Defense Council, “Federal Judge Finds Flint Violated Settlement, Orders City to Finish Lead Pipe Replacements and Restore Residents’ Damaged Property,” February 27, 2023, https://www.nrdc.org/press-releases/federal-judge-finds-flint-violated-settlement-orders-city-finish-lead-pipe; National Resources Defense Council, “Flint Sets New Deadline to Replace Lead Water Pipes by September 2022,” April 13, 2022. https://www.nrdc.org/press-releases/flint-sets-new-deadline-replace-lead-water-pipes-september-2022.