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The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

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Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

I read somewhere the anti-corrosion chemical the city failed to use costs right around $100/day. So to save $36,500/year, it's now looking at a $1.5 billion bill. Not to mention a new crime wave in 10-15 years as the lead poisoned kids hit puberty.
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

Rover said:
If Snyder had any pride he'd resign, but his tenure is typical of the failure of conservatism in general, which has little to no interest in the nitty gritty work of governing. If you gave a con a choice between making sure drinking water is safe from lead, or going to a fancy party thrown by the Koch brothers and then proposing a billion dollar tax cut for them, which do you think Joe Conservative governor is going to choose? Snyder didn't seem like a bad guy before, but sitting around with your thumb up your @ ss for a year while kids are drinking poison water is ridiculous, and he ought to be facing federal charges.

Charlie Pierce had an article about this which I'll try to find linking Snyder and the equally incompetent Rahm Emmanuel (who yes I realize is a Dem) as two pols who need to call it quits.

Found it: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a41062/rahm-emmanuel-rick-snyder-should-resign/
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Snyder started off down on the path of posing as a pragmatic moderate, disliked by the Teabaggers that populate the MI Congress. Since his reelection in 2014, it's become abundantly clear he's just another clueless ex-businessman who thinks one can run the government like a business, by appointing "emergency managers" wherever he feels like in place of the elected officials.

unofan said:
I read somewhere the anti-corrosion chemical the city failed to use costs right around $100/day. So to save $36,500/year, it's now looking at a $1.5 billion bill. Not to mention a new crime wave in 10-15 years as the lead poisoned kids hit puberty.
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Correct. They "saved" thousands, and it will end up costing billions.
 
joecct said:
Where was the EPA?
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Being stonewalled by the state and its (allegedly) falsified data.

Or if you believe Rubio, it's not a federal matter anyway.

But yes, let's blame the regulators as being just as culpable as the people who actually poisoned the water supply.
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

unofan said:
But yes, let's blame the regulators as being just as culpable as the people who actually poisoned the water supply.
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"Now let's burn the observatory so this can never happen again."
 
unofan said:
Being stonewalled by the state and its (allegedly) falsified data.

Or if you believe Rubio, it's not a federal matter anyway.

But yes, let's blame the regulators as being just as culpable as the people who actually poisoned the water supply.
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I was asking where were they. Normally they are all over an issue like this.
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

... And with the Flint situation, Rahm Emanual breaths a sigh of relief.
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

aparch said:
... And with the Flint situation, Rahm Emanual breaths a sigh of relief.
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If the good people of Chicago don't ride him out on a rail that's their lookout. Dude needs to either be indicted or disappeared.
 
joecct said:
Scientists/Engineers - why did the switch to the Flint River cause the lead levels to go through the roof?. Now that they're back on the Detroit system, do they just need to flush the system?
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As stated earlier in this thread, the river corroded the lead pipes because they didn't add an anti-corrosion chemical. The pipes will remain corroded and continue to leach lead into the water until they're replaced.

So to save $100/day, they're looking at a $1.5 billion fix..
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

Flint River water has a much higher salinity than the Detroit water that is pulled from Lake Huron. Probably due to years of industrial polluting in the area. And as unofan mentioned, the city's governor-appointed emergency manager at the time chose to be a miser and not spend the estimated $36,500/yr to add the anti-corrosion chemical. So now, the residents are screwed.

Flint's water system is old enough that many of the service lines are either made of lead (pre-1930), or contain a lead-based solder at the joints that was used nationwide until the late 80s.
 
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Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

Lead pipes!? Wait is this for real? I thought the river was just a **** hole that was so polluted. Jeebus. Why hasn't the state and EPA moved in to replace the mains?
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

dxmnkd316 said:
Lead pipes!? Wait is this for real? I thought the river was just a **** hole that was so polluted. Jeebus. Why hasn't the state and EPA moved in to replace the mains?
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Because lead pipes are a) common around the country and world, and b) the pipes were fine as long as the water wasn't so corrosive that it damaged them.
 
Re: The States: Mad Scientist Laboratories of Democracy

dxmnkd316 said:
...Why hasn't the state and EPA moved in to replace the mains?
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Who's going to finance this project?

I worked on This City of Chicago project for two years. Their sole mission is to replace every water main throughout the city limits that is 100 years old, or OLDER. Each year they replace a small percent of the water mains in the city. Last two years, they replaced 85 miles of pipe each year, or just 3% of the systems' mains. There is at least 3000 miles of water main to be replaced, and there are pipes that continually roll INTO this program due to their age.

Luckily, the City Water Department budgeted enough along with grants, federal aid, and loans to pay for the project of this magnitude.

Not sure if Flint has the resources to afford to pay for a project of this magnitude. Or if the State and EPA would find Flint worthy of a project the scale of Chicago's.
 
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