D16 / SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016 / THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
The mistakes made CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15
Wurfel also was one of the first high-ranking officials in state government aware of the rash of Legionnaire’s cases in Genesee County in early 2015. Even though there had been fatalities, Snyder has said he was not made aware of the outbreak until January 2016. As issues mounted, 2015. Wurfel tried to disBRAD WURFEL IN AN EMAIL TO OTHER DEQ OFFICIALS IN SEPTEMBER credit at least two of the people who have since been hailed as heroes in the crisis — Dr. Marc Edwards and Miguel Del Toral — both of sible for the water coming out of and, eventually, the media. whom sounded the alarm the treatment plant, according Emails show DEQ officials about lead long before the DEQ to the emails. were frustrated and annoyed acknowledged a problem. “We want to be very clear by what they perceived as Del In the emails, Wurfel said that the lead issue in Flint, to Toral’s meddling. the lead information Edwards the extent there is one, is not “If (Del Toral) continues to posted on a website was “irrefrom the source water or the persist we may need Liane or sponsible” and even called Del plant or even the transmisToral a “rogue employee” at one Director Wyant to make a call to EPA to help address his over- sion lines,” Wurfel wrote in an point. reaches,” Busch wrote in a April email to other DEQ officials in Edwards is the Virginia Tech September 2015. “The river has 27, 2015, email to Prysby and professor who independently DEQ water treatment specialist no detectable levels of lead in it, tested water and proved there and treated water from the plant Pat Cook. was a lead problem. has not detectable levels of lead “I agree,” Cook replied, “the Del Toral, a scientist with constant second guessing of how in it. The issue is how, whether, the federal Environmental we interpret and implement our and to what extent the water is Protection Agency, warned his interacting with lead plumbing rules is getting tiresome.” superiors and DEQ officials In the end, the DEQ was inter- in people’s homes.” about possible lead issues in Task force member Flint water in February 2015. In preting them wrong. Part of the problem is that the Christopher Kolb said Busch June, he wrote a memo that circulated among the bureaucracy DEQ thought it was only respon- maintained this same defiant
there extent there he exten o tthe lint, tto n FFlint, ssue iin ead iissue he llead “We want to be very clear that tthe he even tthe orr even plant o he plant or tthe ater or wate ce w ource he ssour from tthe ot from not one, iiss n iiss one, lead in it, and off lead evels o able llevel etecttable detec no d as no has iver h he rriver The lines. T on lines missiion ransmiss ttrans The t. T in iit. ead in off llead evels o able llevel etecttable detec not d as not has plant h the plant rom the ater ffrom wate dw ed reate ttreat ith with cting w actin ntera ater iiss iinter wate the w issue is how, whether, and to what extent the s.” es.” ome hom e’s h eoplle’s peop np bing iin plumbing ead plum llead
stance throughout his interview and was only quieted when the task force members reminded him of the federal Lead and Copper Rule, which regulates the safety of water coming out of a drinking tap. After concluding its investigation, the task force had harsh words for the DEQ. “MDEQ caused this crisis to happen,” the members wrote in their report. “Moreover, when confronted with evidence of its failures, MDEQ responded publicly through formal communications with a degree of intransigence and belligerence that has no place in government. These failures are not diminished, nor should focus on
them be deflected, by the fact that other parties contributed to the disastrous decisions or the prolonging of their consequences.” Former director Wyant has kept a low profile since his resignation. He has not been seen publicly and hasn’t testified at any of the hearings, though he has submitted written testimony to a U.S. Congressional committee, though it has not been publicly released. Reporters from MLive visited his home in East Lansing twice and left numerous messages with him. Efforts to interview Shekter Smith also were unsuccessful. Her attorney told MLive she cannot speak due to ongoing civil litigation related to Flint water. Busch, Prysby and Cook could not be reached for comment. Wurfel’s attorney, Michael Patwell, emailed MLive a statement defending his client’s actions. “…Based on our review of Mr. Wurfel’s comments, it is clear he did his job as department spokesperson based on the information and data he was supplied,” Patwell said. — MLive staff reporter Julie Mack contributed to this report.
State health department slow to respond Report says agency failed to meet its own standards By John Counts
johncounts@mlive.com
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency noted in its response to the Flint water crisis that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services wasn’t “heavily involved” in what would become one of the state’s largest public health disasters. Acting EPA Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg wrote an email on Sept. 26 summarizing a conference call involving high-level EPA officials just days before Gov. Rick Snyder publicly acknowledged the water crisis. “In Michigan, MDEQ (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) is the responsible SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) state agency. It appears to this point that the state health department has not been heavily involved,” Meiburg wrote. “(Another EPA official) makes the point that in other states, the health department’s assessment of the degree of public health risk is highly influential in the state.” The email was sent following pediatrician Dr. Mona HannaAttisha’s news conference at Hurley Medical Center in Flint. She has been lauded for doing what the state health department failed to do — detecting elevated levels of lead in Flint children and forcing officials to take action. Michigan health department officials declined to comment on the EPA email. “We cannot respond to this comment as we don’t have the original message and can’t speak to its intent,” spokeswoman Jennifer Eisner wrote in an email to MLive.com. While the Flint Water Advisory Task Force determined the DEQ was the most culpable state agency for the water crisis — considering it is in charge of the drinking water program — the task force was also critical of the health department. “In the case of Flint, however, MDHHS’s response to two public health concerns, related to lead exposure and cases of Legionella infection, did not meet the agency’s own standard of performance,” the task force’s report states. A member of that task force, Dr. Matthew Davis, served as the state’s chief medical
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of Pediatric Residency at Hurley Children’s Hospital, speaks Sept. 24, 2015, during a news conference at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where doctors called for a health advisory over the water crisis. At right, Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards, who helped reveal the severity of the crisis, greets Flint resident LeeAnne Walters on March 15, 2016, before a hearing in front of the U.S. House Committee on Government Oversight in Washington, D.C. (Jake May | MLive.com)
executive for the Department of Community Health from April 2013 until Snyder merged it with the Department of Human Services in April 2015, at which point Dr. Eden Wells was appointed. “Our concern that we expressed in our … report, there was not a person who connected all these dots,” Davis said. “There’s no direct line of reporting and there’s no staff member between that office (DEQ) and the DHHS.” When the health department did act, the task force concluded, the process the data manager for the MDHHS Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program used was “fundamentally flawed.” Eisner said, “When initially looking at the citywide and county elevated blood lead level
numbers, the increase appeared to be consistent with the routine seasonal fluctuation seen in the summer months. As more information became available, DHHS took a more in-depth look at the data by ZIP code, controlling for seasonal variation, and confirmed an increase outside of normal trends.” When asked if there were any missteps in how the health department handled the Legionnaire’s outbreak and why the governor wasn’t notified of it before January, Eisner had one response for both questions: “We are looking at all aspects of this and internal and external reviews are ongoing.” In an email to several colleagues on Oct. 17, 2014 — days after General Motors announced the water was too
corrosive to use in manufacturing — state health department epidemiologist Susan Bohm wrote about a conversation she had with then-DEQ drinking water chief Liane Shekter Smith, who was later fired for her handling of the water crisis. “She was concerned that we were going to be making some announcement soon about the water being the source of infection, so I told her the Flint water was at this point just a hypothesis,” Bohm wrote in the email. “What she did share with me was interesting — that there have been numerous complaints about Flint water, that the Governor’s Office had been involved, and that any announcement by public health about the quality of the water would certainly inflame the situation.”
Through her lawyer, Shekter Smith declined to comment on her role in the crisis. Genesee County Health Department officials, frustrated with the state’s response, contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for assistance. But the CDC needs a request from the state to step in and the state health department did not make such a request, saying it could provide the county with the necessary resources to handle the outbreak. Despite all of this behind-thescenes activity, the public was never told about the outbreak or warned that city water system was being investigated as a possible source for 15 months. The outbreak would eventually sicken 87 people, including 12 who died, between June 2014 and November 2015. Dr. Davis said it is unlikely anyone will ever know whether the switch to Flint River water caused the outbreak because the proper patient records weren’t retained, specifically phlegm samples, by health care facilities. “That’s like removing fingerprints from the crime scene,” Davis said. “The trail ran cold at that point. With this sort of situation, it’s extremely hard to go back in time.” Other experts say the possible connection between the outbreak and the water switch can’t be ignored. “I really think there is a very strong relationship (with the switch in water source), just looking at the cases and the relationship in timing to the change over to Flint River water,” said Joan Rose, a waterborne disease expert from Michigan State University. Eisner said the state health department is still investigating. The CDC is now involved. While some of the earliest Legionnaire cases may never be solved, experts such as Wayne State University associate professor Shawn McElmurry are still conducting studies about possible links between the disease and the water switch. While some officials from the DEQ have been fired and two criminally charged, no one from the health department has been disciplined. MLive requested interviews with Director Nick Lyon and chief medical executive Dr. Eden Wells, but the health department would only respond to interview requests via emailed questions from a spokesperson.