In a letter to Flint this week the EPA sided with the state, saying that they support the city joining into an Administrative Consent Order with the MDEQ.
In June, the MDEQ called for the city to enter into an ACO, saying that the city had repeatedly failed to fix “deficiencies” in its water system.
That plan would include mutually agreed upon dates after which deficiencies needed to be corrected and penalties if the city failed to comply.
But in letters to the DEQ and EPA later that month Mayor Weaver called the ACO “unwarranted” and said it wasn’t clear why the City “would now need to enter an administrative consent order” citing ongoing efforts to comply with state requirements.
In response, the EPA sent a letter reinforcing the state’s “primacy agency authority” in issuing an ACO. The letter went on to say that the EPA hopes “the City and State can resolve the ACO issue.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Weaver’s office said in a written statement that the city and state are currently in negotiations over the terms of the ACO.