Energy and Commerce Committee plans March hearing on Flint drinking water crisis

A bipartisan group of leaders from the House Energy and Commerce Committee plan to conduct a hearing on the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in March, examining the public and environmental health implications of the emergency.

“The situation in Flint, Michigan, is unacceptable at all levels and we still have a lot to learn,” U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the committee, and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), committee ranking member, jointly stated. “Next month’s hearing seeks to build a better understanding of what we can do to ensure that a crisis of these proportions never happens again, as well as what needs to be done to address the public health and water infrastructure issues in Flint.”

Energy and Commerce Committee members have already taken several steps to address and better understand the situation in Flint, including multiple letters from Upton and Pallone requesting information from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on the crisis and its causes. Upton has also joined U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) to introduce the Safe Drinking Water Act Improved Compliance Awareness Act.