#Roommates, a judge ruled today that residents of #Flint, Michigan, can proceed with the lawsuits they have filed against the federal government in connection with the city’s water crisis.
This proves to be a real victory in the fight for justice for residents who have had their water supply contaminated with lead for a number of years.
The lawsuits claim that the #EnvironmentalProtectionAgency was too slow to intervene in the crisis, @cnn reports. Judge Linda V. Parker ruled the federal government was not immune from legal action in the case.
“The impact on the health of the nearly 100,000 residents of the City of Flint remains untold,” Judge Parker wrote in Thursday’s opinion and order. “It is anticipated, however, that the injury caused by the lead-contaminated public water supply system will affect the residents for years and likely generations to come.”
The lawsuits against the federal government allege that the EPA “negligently responded to the water crisis,” according to the court ruling.
The judge didn’t rule on the EPA’s negligence, but she wrote that “The EPA was well aware that the Flint River was highly corrosive and posed a significant danger of lead leaching” into residents’ homes.
She also stated that the EPA also knew the health risks posed by lead exposure and that Flint officials “were not warning Flint’s residents that they were being supplied lead-laced water. Quite to the contrary, the EPA learned that State and local officials were misleading residents to believe that there was nothing wrong with the water supply,” the judge wrote.
The EPA declined to CNN’s request for comment on the ruling and referred CNN to the Department of Justice. The department hasn’t yet responded to CNN’s request for comment.
We’ll keep you up-to-date on Flint-related news, Roommates.
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
