Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House oversight committee, said Michigan’s toxic water crisis demonstrated serious flaws in agency’s ability to protect the public

The Environmental Protection Agency is guilty of “flat-out incompetence” over the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, according to the chairman of a powerful congressional committee that is set to hear evidence from the man and woman at the heart of the disaster.



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The EPA’s role as a national regulator of water is questioned by Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, who said the Flint crisis demonstrated serious flaws in the federal agency’s ability to protect the public.

“There has been a catastrophic failure from top to bottom, and someone has to be held responsible,” Chaffetz told the Guardian. “We aren’t going to say, ‘Oops, let’s just move on.’”

“It’s shocking that the EPA knew about Flint and yet never let anyone know about it. What good are they if they knew about it and didn’t do anything? This is an organization that wants to control every puddle in the country but they can’t handle it. This isn’t solved with more money or authority, because they’ve been flat-out incompetent.

“It’s impossible to think the federal government can monitor every situation with 300 million people and who knows how many water systems. We have national standards, but states should be warned to not rely upon the EPA. Conceptually, we need less EPA, not more. They’ve failed at every chance they’d had.”

On Tuesday, the committee will hear from former EPA regional administrator Susan Hedman and Darnell Earley, the former emergency manager of Flint. Earley was in charge in April 2014 when it was decided to switch Flint’s water supply to the Flint river, which led to pipes being corroded and lead leaching into drinking water at dangerously high levels.

This organization wants to control every puddle in the country but can’t handle it … they’ve been flat-out incompetent Jason Chaffetz

Hedman resigned in the wake of the disaster, after it emerged the EPA was aware of problems long before a state of emergency was declared in December. In a previous committee hearing, the EPA said it warned of the crisis but was “met with resistance” from Michigan authorities, with scientists ignored and officials sidelined when concerns were raised.

Citing committee hearings into the misconduct of agency staff last year, Chaffetz said there was “smoke coming out” of Hedman’s EPA region, which includes Flint, before the water crisis. The agency has also come under fire after a Guardian investigation showed that multiple US cities have “gamed” water tests to artificially lower reported lead content.

On Thursday, the committee will question the EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, and Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, who is facing growing calls to step down after released emails showed his advisers were aware of the “downright scary” problems in Flint shortly after the switch in 2014 but refused to return to Detroit’s water supply due to the $1m cost.

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Michigan is now facing a $70m cost in addressing the Flint crisis, including the potential developmental problems of 8,000 children exposed to high levels of lead, a known neurotoxin. Testing by state and EPA officials failed to alert the public to the dangers of Flint’s water, forcing residents to turn to Virginia Tech scientists in order to fully expose the high lead levels.

Chaffetz visited Flint on Friday and said it was “devastating” to see the problems in the city first-hand. He was concerned, he said, that there was no clear plan to resolve the crisis.

The Utah congressman became chairman of the oversight committee in November 2014 and has garnered praise from Elijah Cummings, his Democratic counterpart. Cummings told the Hill that Chaffetz’s approach has been a “sea change from the way the committee was run in the past”, due to his willingness to work with Democrats.

Chaffetz used to be a Democrat himself and worked for Michael Dukakis, his half-brother’s stepfather, when the Massachusetts governor ran for president in 1988. But by 1989 he had converted to the Republican party, and he switched from Judaism to Mormonism. Chaffetz credits a meeting with Ronald Reagan for the shift in his political ideology.

Chaffetz has clashed with Planned Parenthood’s head, Cecile Richards, and the secret service during previous committee hearings. The secret service director, Joseph Clancy, apologized to the congressman after it emerged that 45 employees had accessed “sensitive personal information” about him. Chaffetz applied for a job with the secret service in 2003, only to be turned down.

In stark contrast to the rancor shown in the Republican presidential race, Chaffetz said he wanted to work with others, including Democrats such as Cummings, to resolve problems.



“I’ve worked arm-in-arm with Elijah Cummings and that’s functioning quite well,” he said. “We probably differ on most policy issues but in terms of him as a human being and someone who cares for his country, I think the world of him.

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“You can disagree but you don’t have to be disagreeable. I have relatives who are Democrats. We are supposed to have passionate debates in this country but when it gets personal and nasty, it becomes a problem.”

Chaffetz said the abuse thrown during the Republican race, in which Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have mocked each other over excess sweating and finger and penis size, has “gone too far”.

“I don’t think it’s healthy or productive – the politics of personal destruction isn’t something I buy into,” he said.

“You aren’t going to pave your way to the White House by offending everyone along the way. The bellwether for me is whether I can watch the debates with my 15-year-old daughter and at the moment I can’t do that.

“I’ve been supportive of Marco Rubio and we don’t want Hillary Clinton to be the next president, but I want to have a civil discussion in this country. I intend to support the Republican nominee, but we’ll see. We’ll see.”