From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bee: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.. 1/24/2016 Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 05:04:21 +0000 Attachments: Rachelle_Ferrell_bio.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(I).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png; image(13).png; image(14).png; image(I5).png; image(16).png; image(I7).png DEAR FRIEND Is Contaminated Drinking Water The New Norm? file:///Users/stephenbenson/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library.photolibrary/Masters/2016/01/23/20160123- 23422 Uflintwater.jpg file:///Users/stephenbenson/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library.photolibrary/Masters/2016/01/23/20160123- 23422 Ifilintwater.jpg As Steven Cohen recently wrote in the Huffington Post — Whenever I hear that environmental protection is a partisan issue, I'm reminded of New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's famous statement that there is no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage. The provision of clean air, safe drinking water, solid waste management and flood control are all basic public services that people who pay taxes expect to receive. Too bad the folks running Flint, Michigan, and the state of Michigan didn't get that memo. It's also too bad that the federal Environmental Protection Agency sat on the sidelines and allowed Michigan to damage Flint's water supply. In the spring of 2014 to save money the city of Flint decided to stop using Detroit's water system and instead began pumping its water from the Flint River. This was a cost-cutting measure designed to be temporary until the city could connect to a regional water system, then under construction. By April, residents began complaining of cloudy, foul-smelling water, but were assured by local authorities that the water was fine. It wasn't. While the city has now switched back to the Detroit water system, the water from the