密歇根州弗林特将支付居民60美元0 million to settle lawsuits brought against it for failing to protect residents from lead contamination and other water problems caused by the city's switch to Flint River for drinking water in 2014. At the time, the city was under emergency state management as a result of its financial crisis. When citizens began reporting problems with their water, the state's regulators were slow to take action on the contamination.
弗吉尼亚理工技术和环境工程教授和水专家马克·爱德华兹（Marc Edwards）说：“如果金钱是政府对其罪行表达悲伤的方式，这是一个很大的道歉。”问题。爱德华兹是Enr的201新利luck7年Award of ExcellenceWinner for his work during the crisis.
Since the crisis was brought to light, the city switched back to using water piped in from Detroit. Edwards’ first sample in one home in 2015 showed a lead level of 13,200 parts per billion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action level is 15 ppb, and water with lead above 5,000 ppb is considered hazardous waste. No level is considered safe. Edwards publicly called out the government agencies that failed to implement corrosion control.
该州总检察长表示，该州针对工程顾问维尔利亚北美和洛克伍德，安德鲁斯和纽纳（LAN）的诉讼将继续进行。
LAN的首席顾问韦恩·B·梅森（Wayne B. Mason）在一份声明中说：“我们欢迎该州最终承担造成弗林特水危机的责任的消息。”“尽管没有遵循我们的建议，但原告仍在继续对LAN提起诉讼，尽管我们没有遵循我们的建议，并且在州和纽约市进行更改时，我们不承担为弗林特市提供水处理和工厂运营服务到弗林特河。
"The implications of this case are far reaching and present a risk to all consulting firms because plaintiffs are asserting that an engineering firm can be held liable for consulting work performed for a government agency, even if the firm’s recommendations are not followed or ignored," Mason added.
Mason said LAN will continue to defend itself against what he called baseless claims by the state. A senior executive at Veolia said the company is reviewing the settlement. Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) stressed that the settlement was an end to the story of the Flint crisis. Through June 2019, Michigan was the subject of 79 Flint-related lawsuits.
The agreementrequires that the state pay the $600 million into a qualified settlement fund for the benefit of individuals, property owners and businesses who claimed they were injured by water distributed by Flint. The agreement specifies that about 80 percent of the settlement fund will be spent on "claims of children who were minors when first exposed to the Flint River water, with a large majority of that amount to be paid for claims of children age 6 and younger." Additionally, according to the agreement, 18 percent of settlement funds will be dedicated to claims of adults and for property damage, while roughly 1 percent will go toward claims for business losses.
"What happened in Flint should have never happened, and financial compensation with this settlement is just one of the many ways we can continue to show our support for the city of Flint and its families," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said in a statement. At the time of the crisis, Rick Snyder (R) was Michigan's governor.
惠特默的发言人无法回答6亿美元的来源以及是否需要州立法机关的新拨款。2020年的国家预算包括1.2亿美元通过投资水基础设施来清理饮用水。
"Due to the complexity of the settlement, the funding details are still being worked out and will be described specifically in the settlement documents that are being finalized in the next 45-60 days," said Tiffany Brown, press secretary for Whitmer.
The settlement agreement must be approved by U.S. District Court judges. Attorney General Nessel said her office expected to release more details of the settlement within 45 days.
"By reaching this agreement," Nessel says, "I hope we can begin the process of closing one of the most difficult chapters in our state’s history and writing a new one that starts with a government that works on behalf of all of its people."
