The NAACP is giving Gov. Rick Snyder 30 days to come up with a “timeline, deadline and price tag” for fixing Flint’s water crisis.
After that, the national civil right organization is threatening “direct action” protests in Michigan.
National NAACP president Cornell William Brooks laid out a 20-point plan for Flint’s drinking water crisis. The plan includes repealing Michigan’s emergency manager law, free home inspections and a new ‘state of the art water system’ in Flint.
Brooks says it's time Gov. Rick Snyder delivered a specific plan.
“We want measurable, quantifiable and significant progress on our 20-point plan within the next 30 days,” Brooks told an audience in a Flint church today.
Brooks says if there is not a plan a month from now, the NAACP will conduct a “direct action” campaign in Michigan. “Direct action” can take many forms, from sit-ins to civil disobedience.
A governor’s spokesman says Snyder is working with Flint leaders to replace lead pipes in the city.
Work is underway to locate high-risk, high-priority areas so removal efforts can begin very quickly. There was money included in the $28 million supplemental budget request approved late last month for this utility work, and [the] Governor last week requested an additional $25 million for removing lead pipelines. Part of the challenge is locating all the lead service lines. We know there are about 5,000 lead service lines, and about 25,000 service lines that are not made of lead. But there are about 10,000 service lines of unknown composition. There is a partnership with the city to work with an engineering firm to determine how many of those unknown lines are made of lead. Additional details are expected to be announced this week.
Gov. Snyder is also asking the Michigan Legislature for tens of millions of dollars to address infrastructure and health issues related to Flint’s drinking water crisis.
