About the Flint water crisis

Official Statement

A Betrayal of Public Trust on the Part of Government Officials

What happened in Flint is a tragedy and the people of Flint deserve justice and accountability for the disastrous actions taken by City, State, and Federal officials who chose to save money at the expense of their health.

After years of investigation, it is well-established that the Flint water crisis was a massive failure of government, from the politicians at the very top of Michigan government, including Governor Snyder and members of his senior staff, to the bureaucrats on the ground in Flint. All of them failed in their duties. They had the power to fix the problems with Flint’s water, and they had every opportunity to do so. Not only did they not fix the problem, but they also lied to the people of Flint.

Those same government officials are now hiding behind the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering for their actions. Not a single one has been held accountable.

VNA went to Flint in an effort to help, and our people did good work there. We acted as a consultant, hired ten months after the crisis had begun to conduct a one- week review of the City’s actions and provide some recommendations to help those in charge improve the quality of the water. In conducting that review, VNA had no choice but to rely on City officials to provide certain information, such as lead test results.

What we know now, but could not have known then, is that those same officials that lied to the people of Flint withheld critical information from VNA, including evidence of extremely high lead test results in one resident’s home. Officials never shared this information with VNA even though our engineers specifically asked for all available lead testing data.

Despite all this, our people have been wrongfully accused of contributing to the crisis. The 2022 bellwether trial was the first time that these blatantly false allegations have been countered with real evidence in a court of law. During the trial, witnesses and third-party experts testified under oath that VNA gave good advice based on the information that was available to them. After nearly six months of testimony and two weeks of deliberation, a jury could not agree with plaintiffs’ claims against VNA, and a mistrial was declared.

VNA takes great pride in our work, and we are committed to doing whatever it takes to defend our company and our people. We also recognize that the people of Flint suffered an unspeakable tragedy, and they deserve justice. It is unfathomable that nearly ten years have passed, and not a single government official in charge has been held accountable. We look forward to continuing to shed light on the truth of what happened in Flint, and to doing our part to advance true justice for the victims of the crisis.