FLINT, MI -- U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Flint is among communities already impacted by “the climate crisis and environmental injustice" and repeated the claim that children here have rising levels of lead in their blood and brain damage.

Responding to a Twitter message from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, Tuesday, July 9, the congresswoman said, “Fixing the pipes in Flint, cleaning the air in the Bronx & transitioning away from pipelines on reservations sets an example for our future.”

The tweet included video from Capitol Hill in March, when Ocasio-Cortez said, “You want to tell people that their concern for clean air and clean water is elitist? ... Tell that to the families in Flint, whose kids -- their blood is ascending in lead levels. Their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives."

Frontline communities are already impacted by the climate crisis & environmental injustice. That’s why they’re named in the #GreenNewDeal.



Fixing the pipes in Flint, cleaning the air in the Bronx & transitioning away from pipelines on reservations sets an example for our future. https://t.co/GmwZEHYJ87 — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 9, 2019

The Flint crisis began when the city’s water supply was changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River in what was promoted by state-appointed emergency managers as a cost-saving change. Local, state and federal officials have said since that improper treatment of corrosive river water caused lead to leech from water pipes and fixtures -- into the water system.

Lead is a toxic metal that was used for many years in products found in and around homes and may cause health effects such as behavioral problems and learning disabilities, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A study by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha showed the percentage of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood doubled in Flint during the 17 months the city used river water, but another Hurley doctor’s study in The Journal of Pediatrics in 2018 claims the increased exposure Flint children had to lead during the water crisis was no more than random increases in previous years.

Since the city was reconnected to Lake Huron in October 2015, the level of lead in water has decreased, and the city’s 90th percentile for lead was 4 parts per billion in the last six months of 2018. State data shows the percentage of Flint children with elevated blood lead levels has dropped from 3.9 percent in 2014 to 2.4 percent in 2018.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are teaming up on a measure that would designate climate change as an emergency, according to the Associated Press.

Ocasio-Cortez’s has promoted the Green New Deal, a framework to dramatically slash U.S. carbon emissions.