Janine Jackson interviewed Status Coup News‘ Jordan Chariton about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis for the January 21, 2022, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Janine Jackson: In an op-ed for The Hill a year ago, Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee called the 2014 decision to switch the source of Flint, Michigan’s drinking water “one of the greatest environmental injustices in our lifetimes.”
That may be true, but the environment didn’t do it. The Flint crisis was and is a crisis of democracy. Decision-making had been taken out of the hands of Flint’s elected officials and given to an emergency manager tasked with reining in costs, a process that seems to be used disproportionately in communities of color—taking decisions out of community hands, but leaving them to deal with their fallout.
The Flint story reflects malfeasance, austerity politics, and punishing indifference to the lives of Black and brown people, as well as the limits of news media’s attention span. Evidence suggests most big media have either swallowed the pollyanna line that the Flint water crisis is over and justice served, or else the nihilist line that Flint was really no worse than lots of other places, so what are you going to do?
But some journalists have not stopped seeing the ongoing community harms resulting from decisions carried out by real people, with names and addresses, as worthy of pursuit. We’re joined now by Jordan Chariton, investigative reporter and the CEO of independent news network Status Coup News. He joins us now by phone. Welcome to CounterSpin, Jordan Chariton.
Jordan Chariton: Hey, thanks for having me.
JJ: The story has some twists and turns and a lot of players, individual and institutional. Folks can listen to previous interviews to get some of the early issues. But I’d like to ask you to bring us up to date. What are the latest developments in efforts to hold officials accountable, for what was not an accident but a crime, and one with real and ongoing effects?
JC: Yeah, so, unfortunately, the latest efforts seem to be inadequate, based on my reporting. But the current attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel, and her prosecution team, which basically is the second Flint investigation in eight years—there was an original investigation team launched under the previous Michigan attorney general, they investigated from 2016 through 2018, and then when the current attorney general, Nessel, came in, she basically fired that team and restarted the whole investigation.
That new investigation charged Governor Snyder last year with a misdemeanor for his role in the water crisis. My reporting over the years has indicated there was a whole lot more there than a misdemeanor. And my reporting actually showed that the original Flint water investigators, who were fired by the current attorney general, they were actually building a case against the governor for involuntary manslaughter. So they were going much more aggressively against the governor than the current prosecution team ended up doing; they only charged him with a misdemeanor.
There’s been some other charges against state and city officials. Nothing has gone to trial yet. Currently former Gov. Rick Snyder and other defendants are trying to get the charges tossed, basically claiming that the prosecution team made errors in how they collected and distributed evidence.
So right now it’s kind of stuck in delays and, big picture, we’re now headed into year eight in April. No one has been convicted. No one is in jail. The people of Flint are still suffering. Residents are getting sicker and sicker as the years go on. I think that’s something people don’t realize, the effects of heavy metal poisoning, it gets worse as the years go on. So residents I speak with are developing cancers that they had no family history for, liver issues, kidney issues, bone issues, autoimmune issues. And, of course, the children: learning disabilities, behavioral problems, all sorts of things.
So it’s still very much a crisis and, in my view, the media has totally abandoned this and abdicated their responsibility to cover it and treat it as an ongoing crisis.
JJ: Yeah, let me just start from there, because it seems to me that the media didn’t just stop covering Flint, they kind of declared it over, you know? They kind of said, it’s fixed. You’ve been working with Detroit Metro Times, with the Intercept, and since the start, it seems like local media have done more and done better and done deeper than big media. But in big national media, it’s almost not like it’s over, it’s like, oh no, no, it worked out, you know? And that couldn’t be more wrong, you’re saying.
Jordan Chariton: “The media…basically regurgitated falsified data that was being said to them by the very state government that presided over the poisoning.”
JC: Yeah. If I write the book one day, the media will be a big part of it, because honestly, they’re as complicit in the cover-up as the politicians at this point. Actually, if I roll back to 2018, the media at that point was just basically regurgitating the data that then-Governor Snyder and his team were putting out there, data that showed the lead levels were dramatically falling, and that the levels were now “meeting EPA regulations.”
But I was hearing from residents and sources that they basically manipulated the testing and the data. So I did something radical these days for a journalist, and I went to Flint and I just started knocking on doors. And myself and, at the time, my previous reporting partner, we knocked on nearly 500 doors in the summer and fall of 2018. And what we discovered was that the state of Michigan’s environmental department was literally running residents’ water right before taking lead and copper samples. Like just a few minutes before taking the samples, they were running the water, which is against EPA regulations. So voilà, they were getting low lead levels, because they were basically flushing away potential lead.
I was actually working on that story for Newsweek, trying to get it in a bigger national outlet with the hope of it getting traction. Newsweek literally killed the story the week it was supposed to be published, claiming we didn’t have enough data, even though we had dozens and dozens of residents on the record that state officials had run their water before testing, or told them to run their water before testing. So we ended up self-publishing it, but even in 2018, it was very clear that the way they were testing was completely wrong, and borderline just cooking the data.
So when you see stories from Reuters and elsewhere that 3,000 other cities have higher lead levels than Flint, I was screaming, well, we don’t really know what the real lead levels are in Flint, because there was no integrity in the testing. Erin Brockovich, actually, when our story came out, said, this is a crime. It’s falsifying lead and copper samples. That’s a crime and the testing should be tossed out.
So since then, the testing has still been inadequate. They’re not even testing as many homes as they should be in Flint, and they haven’t even changed all of the busted pipes. So how can you say the water is safe if eight years later they haven’t even replaced all the pipes? They haven’t touched the pipes inside their homes, which were already damaged. So this is your classic example of, the media got caught up in the five-year Trump circus. A lot of other stories fell through the cracks, and the media, national and local, just basically regurgitated falsified data that was being said to them by the very state government that presided over the poisoning.
And to tell you the truth, the current Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and the current Democratic attorney general haven’t really done much better. There’s really been this push to declare it over, to claim that it’s not an issue with the water anymore. The water’s fine. Now it’s just about rebuilding trust.
Well, I was just in Flint over the summer. I could tell you, I spoke with residents who showed me rashes they are still getting from that water, hair loss, they’re still losing hair when they shower, residents describing their eyes burning in the shower. Anecdotally, I have sat in homes within the last year where the water stinks.
So it’s very easy for media in New York, DC, on the West Coast to basically regurgitate what they’re fed by the government. But it’s a lot harder, and more expensive by the way, to actually go there with your own eyes, and talk to residents to find out, yeah, this is more of a narrative. This isn’t actually reality, that it’s solved.
JJ: Let me just say, finally, maybe I know the answer. President Biden said just recently:
I want you to know I see you, I hear you, we understand, and I’ve seen and we’ve understood the damage done in places like Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi. So we’ve already announced over $7 billion in clean water funding to states so they can fix and upgrade their aging water systems and sewer systems.
What’s your response to that kind of official declaration vis-à-vis human beings in Flint, Michigan?
JC: First of all, it’s a nice slogan to say the infrastructure deal is going to deliver clean water and replace all pipes. The actual money earmarked to replace lead pipes is not enough to replace all lead pipes in the country. So that’s number one.
Number two, there’s a misnomer that the only issue with water is lead. That’s not the only issue contaminating our water. There’s a lot of other contaminants in our water. And a lot of those contaminants are coming from corporate and industrial pollution. So this was more of a marketing slogan and a messaging thing by Biden and Democrats. Replacing some lead lines is, of course, better than nothing, but that’s not going to completely fix the problem.
And when you look at Flint, specifically, why is it that Flint, Michigan, majority Black, those residents don’t have Medicare for All for being poisoned by their government? So when you look up to Libby, Montana, those residents, 96% white, they have universal healthcare because of an asbestos disaster that happened over a decade there where a lot of people died. They got universal healthcare in Libby, Montana. Your listeners should look that up.
People of Flint don’t have universal healthcare. They got a short-term expansion of Medicaid, and that’s pretty much over now. I talked to residents who are nearly going bankrupt because of the bills they have for environmental doctors. Because for heavy metal poisoning, a normal internist is not enough. You really need specific, specialized doctors.
So the people of Flint, there’s been a lot of woke language, and we hear you and we’re going to do everything for you. But if you talk to the people of Flint, they are still screaming for help.
And, real quickly, this is also a major problem for local media. I’ve broken at least four pretty significant stories on the Flint water coverup over the last two years. The Flint Journal has not covered any of it. The Detroit Free Press has not covered any of it. The Detroit News has not covered any of it. And I literally have spoken with people from those outlets who have told me point blank, yeah, there’s pressure from the top just to kind of not cover that anymore. So I have no idea why, but this is a national media failure, but it’s also a local media failure, because the local media in Michigan has essentially continued this narrative that the water is fine now, and let’s move on.
JJ: We’ve been speaking with Jordan Chariton, reporter and CEO at the independent news network Status Coup News. Thank you so much, Jordan Chariton, for joining us this week on CounterSpin.
JC: Thank you.
Dear American Government:
Did you hear or did you disremember— that FLINT, MICHIGAN’s water is killing people and making some very, very sick.
So, INSTEAD of starting a war with Russia—why not use that money that Pelosi says to send to Ukraine. But instead —please send the $ to FLINT. The Americans in Flint need to replace the pipes in Flint and you also need to give healthcare to all in that city.
To WAR on your own people— but to instead start a war in Ukraine?—-Shame on you American Government!
If only Michigan had a caring Democrat governor or a caring Democrat president, then thi problem would be solved instantly.
If the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) had not opened the door to unlimited campaign donations in Citizens United vs. FEC, which allows undue political influence by the very same corporations which profit from the destruction of our environment, and often actively poisons our population in that process… there might have been some faint glimmer of hope for justice in Flint, Michigan.
Though SCOTUS will probably overturn Roe v. Wade by April 2022, there is almost no chance that Citizens United v. FEC will ever be reversed or even limited in scope.
The wealthy and their corporate interests have already achieved their platinum trifecta. They’ve captured the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and any American who still believes the two party system works in the interests of the majority, or was above complicity in the process of corporate capture, is delusional.
So corporate interests have kept politicians from replacing pipes? There’s a corporation who is profiting from bad pipes in Flint? Please tell us how.
Your Democrats blamed Republicans and now they’re not doing anything. Priceless. This is an infrastructure problem. Where’s Biden?
Many corporations have been responsible for destroying the land, water, and air in Flint, Michigan. During the past 100 years, the Flint River actually caught on fire twice, and was once subject to a 14 month ban regarding ALL HUMAN CONTACT with its contaminated waters.
Since both major political parties have been complicit in the longstanding process described above, there’s really no “side” to actually blame, except for the one that profited without cost while creating these conditions.
Why not just focus on the worst of the worst?
For almost 130 years, General Motors Corporation discarded various toxic byproducts into landfills, dumps, and the Flint River itself. In 2009, after bulldozing all of their properties without removing any of the documented contaminants, and after having exported hundreds of thousands of jobs out of the U.S., GM sold all of these properties (and liability) to the City of Flint for the grand sum of one whole dollar.
The EPA is still cleaning up the mess GM left behind.
Also in 2009, GM received a U.S. Government bail-out that ended up costing the American taxpayer more than $11.3 BILLION. That’s right, a guaranteed loan floated by BOTH parties resulted in an actual fiscal loss.
Since 2009, GM has NOT PAID ANY FEDERAL TAX, and actually filed for a $108 MILLION REFUND IN 2018. Seriously Tim, don’t you get it yet?
This is what corporate capture looks like in modern America, but if you want to keep deflecting the issue into a partisan pissing contest, that’s your choice. People on this forum know better, no matter what you say.
A great background tutorial is this short clip, in which the Chairman of General Motors drones on and on about his dedication to the community of Flint, Michigan, while the family of a recently-fired GM employee is evicted on Christmas Eve. (WARNING: SOME OBSCENITY)
For over 40 years, Flint was run by Democrats. GM doesn’t lay water pipes. GM doesn’t replace water pipes. This problem lies squarely on the feet of Democratic leadership. Own it
This article is about the present problem at Flint. Again, a Democratic problem. Your side has destroyed cities while claiming to support the little people.
Just so you know… I have never been a member of the Democratic Party, or a resident of Michigan. I just choose to do the necessary research.
More importantly, the water imported from the Detroit water system during Democratic Party control of Flint, was potable and did NOT create the corrosion responsible for the recent toxic release of lead.
In an attempt to cut costs, the unelected Emergency Manager of Flint (who was appointed by a Republican governor) decided to cancel the prior contract with the Detroit water system. The poor quality of water drawn from the Flint River then required extensive chlorination, which resulted in the chemical leaching responsible for the exposure of lead joints that ultimately contaminated the entire domestic water supply.
Your uncontrollable partisan anger, once again, has conveniently led you to ignores facts surrounding an issue that arose under a completely ineffective and compromised two-party system.
Both parties shamelessly ignore “the little people,” while collecting unlimited campaign contributions from the very same corporations that pay no federal tax… and pollute our shared natural resources. Both parties offer lip service to their base, claiming they have their best interests at heart… and yet never following through on infrastructure.
It’s very sad that you (and hundreds of millions of Americans like you) are incapable of recognizing how this system causes economic and physical harm to us all, and would rather choose to direct your energy towards any means possible to demonize the “other” party.
Media can’t point fingers, too scared, doesn’t give systemic analysis. Example number 8556.