Michigan Is Still Fighting A Court Order To Provide Water To Flint Residents… Details Inside!
It’s been nearly three weeks since a federal judge ordered Michigan officials to deliver bottled water to Flint residents who still do not have clean water; however, the state is fighting against the judges orders.
According to Huffington Post, the preliminary injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson on Nov. 10, calls for state and city officials to deliver bottled water to all Flint homes unless residents decline it or it is otherwise verified that the home has a properly installed, functioning water filter.
In a motion filed Nov. 17, 2016, the state appealed that ruling citing that it would be too costly, and calling the ordered water distribution a “herculean effort” that “would be on the magnitude of a large-scale military operation.” The state estimates it would cost at least $10.5 million monthly to carry out and is seeking an emergency motion to block the order.
A ruling on the state’s motion is expected from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals any day now. Until then, state and city officials are required to file a status report on their compliance with the order by Dec. 16.
In a Tuesday call, representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which along with the American Civil Liberties Union is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, criticized the state of Michigan for “spending its time litigating as opposed to assuring safe water to its residents.”
The NRDC filed a brief Monday with the 6th Circuit describing the “harsh, on-the-ground reality” of Flint residents who are still “struggling to obtain enough safe water to meet their daily needs.” The organization is calling on the court to deny the state’s motion for a stay.
Residents of Flint, a high-poverty, predominantly black city, had been complaining about the quality of their water soon after the city left the Detroit water system and switched its drinking water sources to the polluted, highly corrosive Flint River in April 2014.
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