The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis: A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice
View the Recording here: https://bluejeans.com/s/@6NK2dKwMfD
Lindsey Butler, Ph.D.
Director of Climate and Health Resilience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
ABSTRACT
The Flint water crisis highlights numerous regulatory failures related to federal drinking water regulation, interpretation, and enforcement. The events that unfolded in Michigan, from the initial utilization of a corrosive water source to provide Flint’s drinking water to the inadequate response of numerous regulators, demonstrate how the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) can be wrongly interpreted, implemented, and weakly enforced, leading to dangerous exposure to unsafe drinking water. Our objective is to discuss these regulatory failures in Michigan in 2014–2015 in the context of other reported incidents of U.S. cities with high levels of lead in drinking water. Like the people of Flint, many of the affected residents are living in economically depressed areas with high rates of racial minorities. The recurring trend of unsafe drinking water in communities with this demographic profile qualifies this as an issue of environmental injustice.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Lindsey Butler is an environmental epidemiologist, science communicator, and thought leader specializing in the intersection of climate change and human health. She serves as the Director of Climate and Health Resilience at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) where her core priorities include reducing the organization’s environmental impact and moving towards carbon neutrality, making information about climate change and health accessible, and advancing environmental justice and climate resilience. Prior to joining Blue Cross, she served as the Deputy Chief of Policy to the Mayor of the City of Boston. Her work at City Hall focused on environmental policy, public health policy, language access, food assistance, developing the green workforce and data driven governance. She holds a Master of Science and PhD in environmental epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health.