FLINT, MI - An engineering firm targeted by the attorney general's water crisis lawsuit claims city leaders told it to exclude work on lead and copper issues.
Veolia North America issued a statement Thursday, June 23, claiming city officials told them not to focus on issues that would eventually thrust the city into the national spotlight.
Attorney General Bill Schuette announced Wednesday that his office filed a lawsuit in Genesee Circuit Court against Veolia and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, which were hired to conduct engineering studies on the city's water system.
Veolia, in its Thursday statement, said the accusations are "baseless, entirely unfounded and appears to be intended to distract from the troubling and disturbing realities that have emerged as a result of this tragedy."
"In fact, when Veolia raised potential lead and copper issues, city officials and representatives told us to exclude it from our scope of work because the city and the EPA were just beginning to conduct lead and copper testing," the company's statement said.
City spokeswoman Kristin Moore declined to address Veolia's accusations, adding the city is eager to learn what is decided in court.
Schuette's lawsuit accuses Veolia and LAN of professional negligence and public nuisance. Veolia is also accused of fraud.
LAN has also denied the accusations.
Veolia was hired by the city in February 2015 to study the city's water quality issues after high levels of disinfectant byproducts cause the city to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act.
An interim report was issued in February and in its final March 2015 water quality report, Veolia stated it conducted a "160-hour assessment of the water treatment plant, distribution system, customer services and communication programs, and capital plans and annual budget."
The final report claims that "a review of water quality records for the time period under our study indicates compliance with State and Federal water quality regulations."
The 12-page report recommended operational changes and improvements; changes in water treatment, procedures and chemical dosing; adjustments in how current technologies are being used; increased maintenance and capital spending; increasing training and improved customer communications.
Schuette's lawsuit claims Veolia failed to recommend corrosion control chemicals for lead. Rather, the lawsuit claims the corrosion control chemicals could be used to improve the aesthetics of the city's water supply.
The lawsuit claims the same report recommended the addition of ferric chloride, an acid, to Flint's water system to combat Trihalomethanes, which further worsened the corrosion problems.
"Veolia made a bad situation worse," Schuette said.
However, the French company claims the lawsuit is an attempt by the state to deflect blame.
"The lawsuit filed by the Michigan Attorney General yesterday is outrageous," Veolia's statement claimed. "The allegations against Veolia are false, inaccurate, and unwarranted. Sadly for the citizens of Flint and throughout Michigan, the lawsuit represents the latest attempt to deflect responsibility by government officials and representatives who caused and are responsible for this situation."
The company has pointed to a Governor's Task Force report that primarily placed blame for the crisis with the state's Department of Environmental Quality.
The 62-page report chided the DEQ's handling of the crisis, and knocks the ongoing effort of state officials to place blame for the crisis at multiple levels of government.
"Incredibly, the Attorney General filed this lawsuit and made these false claims after the Governor's Task Force, acting for the State of Michigan, conducted a thorough investigation including dozens of interviews and exonerated Veolia from any involvement in the Flint water crisis," Veolia said in its statement. "The Governor's Task Force placed blame precisely where it belongs, with the government officials who made all of the decisions and directed all of the actions that resulted in the crisis."
No officials with either LAN or Veolia were interviewed by the Flint water task force. The task force report states that it submitted a question to LAN about its work with Veolia but states that LAN did not respond before the report was issued.
Special Assistant Attorney General Noah Hall said the lawsuit seeks financial damages to help the state provide services, education, health care and infrastructure for the city and its residents. Damages could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Wednesday she applauded Schuette's decision to file the civil lawsuit.
She added that the city would review its ongoing contract with LAN.
"It's disturbing to hear that companies hired to ensure the safety of the city's water supply may not have done what they were paid to do," Weaver said.