mr. del toro's memo and mr.lling asked her if there was anything that should be of concern to flint residents. and she said frankly, no. >> ms. hedman, why did you do that? >> i didn't apologize for the memo. i apologized for taking all day to get back to the mayor and this is because i was out of the office for a medical procedure. and in fact -- >> that was one day. >> in fact during the entire time period that dr. edwards imagines i was covering up data and silencing scientists i was actually out of the office. i did not return until july 13th. during that time period, my deputy, bob kaplan, who dr. edwards describes as one of the good guys, was actually in charge of the office. >> so mr. edwards, this memo from mr. del toro is pretty comprehensive, is it not? does it tackle the issue? does it inform them about the health of the water? >> it points out that flint is not being protected by federal law and public health is in danger. >> when should that information have been released? >> had epa just stayed sil

mr. del toro. how would you characterize that statement in light of your close working with him question. >> i don't think ms. hedman understands the climate she created at region five epa. even before mr. del toro wrote that memo, he told me that he had to protect flint's children while minimizing the likelihood that he would be retaliated against. >> again has he shared with you that he was retaliated against? is that your belief? >> well, i mean, obviously he was told not to talk to anyone to flint or about flint. a deal a deal of some sort was made between epa and mdq where they felt they had handled mr. del toro and flint residents would not be hearing from mr. del toro again and so that's when we got involved. i invested $200,000 of my own money, a team of, a team of 25 volunteers from virginia tech had to go in and demonstrate that the flint residents were not crazy and the lead in water was high. >> so is it your testimony that somehow mr. del toro was handled by the epa and the department o

mr. del toro. the key points, the summary at the end of the documenting that there is no corrosion and controlled treatments that the people can't afford bottled water. mde is continuing to assist it is safe, and they know a child with elevated lead levels already. if you received an e-mail documenting all these problems on september 25, including the fact that children had elevated blood lead levels, why didn't you act until january 21, 2016? gina mccarthy: you are incorrect -- rep. desjarlais: we have e-mails, we have records as well. if you continue to not take responsibility, including writing articles about it, dr. edwards is an expert on this issue. gina mccarthy: yes. rep. desjarlais: the people of flint understand that. he has been there. you did not even show up until february of this year. i remember to people on the other side of the aisle, this administrator of epa didn't show up until february. dr. edwards said in testimony before this committee that susan edmund, who you want fire, yo

mr. del toro should get a congressional gold medal. mrs. walters blew the whistle. she came to the local authorities. we had the mayor in here. she told me in march of 2015 she met the mayor at the library, and he promised to do everything. she went to city hall april 3rd, or the beginning of april, and no one would see her. she was put off. and to the day of the hearing the other day, the mayor had never talked to her after that. this -- and i said, this -- now, you're pretty experienced, you head the epa. you can read del toro's report. it's incredibly accurate. this is dated in june, and not a damn thing was done until, really, until january of this year. >> i think -- >> and i went back and asked mrs. walters, i said, well, when did they finally come in? because the mayor and others in your epa administrator from the district said that, oh, we acted immediately. they didn't act. they gagged mr. del toro. did you ever see this report, administrator? >> i did see that report, yes. >> when did you see the report? >> i don't recall the exact day. >> well, into june,

mr. del toro should get a congressional gold medal. mrs. walters blew the whistle. she came to the local authorities. we had the mayor in here. she told me in march of 2015 she met the mayor at the library, and he promised to do everything. she went to city hall april 3rd, or the beginning of april, and no one would see her. she was put off. and to the day of the hearing the other day, the mayor had never talked to her after that. this -- and i said, this -- now, you're pretty experienced, you head the epa. you can read del toro's report. it's incredibly accurate. this is dated in june, and not a damn thing was done until, really, until january of this year. >> i think -- >> and i went back and asked mrs. walters, i said, well, when did they finally come in? because the mayor and others in your epa administrator from the district said that, oh, we acted immediately. they didn't act. they gagged mr. del toro. did you ever see this report, administrator? >> i did see that report, yes. >> when did you see the report? >> i don't recall the exact day. >> well, into june,

mr. del toro did everything every epa employee should aspire to do. his memo could have made epa the heroes here in this particular case. even despite the ten years of allowing utilities to cheat on the lead and copper rule prior to that time, he realized the danger that put in flint's children in. >> and what's your personal assessment of what the governor has done or is doing now? >> well, unlike epa, the governor has taken responsibility for what occurred. certainly he was guilty of not listening to flint residents. certainly he was guilty of being overly trusting of mdeq and epa, but at present he says that he wants to be part of the solution. and he's actively engaged in this. so i'm willing to work with anyone who wants to be part of the solution. and i think he's sincere about trying to help flint get back on its feet. >> we are about to have a vote called on the floor. let me -- if the ranking member has another -- yes. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. mr. earley, i'm still a little stunned by what you said you talked to the governor's o

mr. del toro. when did you see the report? gov. snyder: i don't recall the exact date. rep. mica: did you see this report? again, a high school student could take the support and determine that kids were getting poisoned. he went in and tested everything, the pipes in the building. he looked at the lead lines. he looked a -- he detailed all the things we heard, the calendar of failure of flint. violations going back, and you told me you had the authority. did you ever shut these programs down or go after them? you did not. admin mccarthy: okay. rep. mica: i heard calls for resignation. i think you should be at the top of this list. they failed at the local level in the state level. we failed at the federal level. who is in charge? hedman is getting a vacation bonus, the kids get poisoned, and you are still in office. i yield back. admin mccarthy: thanks for the opportunity to answer. rep. mica: you're welcome. rep. chaffetz: did you have something you wanted to say? admin mccarthy: it would be good

mr. del toro has a different recollection, as well as responses to him. i had the opportunity to talk with him this saturday as well. very different from what we are being told here. that's the concern. again, the human decency act. when the issue was brought to field,authorities in the with actual testing, the epa did not do what it needed to do, even if the other entities going down to the local level and state level were doing their duty. and we will certainly ask him about those issues and i look forward to the responses as well. mr. chairman, i see it's time to yield back. hopefully i can gain more down the road. senator: we now recognize the gentlewoman from new york, ms. maloney, for five minutes. the flintloney: drinking water crisis is a national scandal. accountabilityr from those who are responsible. that is what we are trying to accomplish today. with mayore to begin wally. .- mayor walling ey's statement to this committee, he made several statements involving yourself and the city council and the decision to switch to the flint water. first,

. >> yes, so you are aware of the june 2015 memo from miguel del toro, you are aware of that memo? >> yes. >> yes. okay. so mr. del toro and we have established, he is a drinking water specialist and he was a key member of the region five drinking water task force. when he reported the high levels of lead in the flint drinking water, the epa, the environmental protection agency, they didn't do that. they didn't protect the public. they didn't warn the public. instead, ms. hedman, she had a bunch of excuses. none of which i believe. she had a lot of excuses as to why the epa, the environmental protection agency didn't take any action. none of them would have prevented, none of them would have prevented from the epa standing up and saying, hey, don't drink the water. it has lead in it. stop, don't drink it. none of the excuses she had would have prevented epa from doing that. but epa did not do that. they did not protect. they did not -- they did not prevent someone or something from suffering harm -- >> will the gentleman yield? >> i do not yield. ms. mccarthy. you had an op-ed in the washington post and you s

mr. del toro certainly has a different, different recollection of it, as well as responses to him.nd i had the opportunity to talk with him in flint this saturday as well. very different from what we're being told here. and that's the concern. again, the human decency act. when the issue was brought to you, by authorities in the field, by actual testing, the epa didn't do what it needed to do, even if the other entities going down to the local level and the state level weren't doing their duty and we're certainly going to ask them about those issues. and i look forward to their responses as well mr. chairman. i see my time is up, i yield back and hopefully i can gain some time from other individuals down the road. >> thank the gentleman mr. wahlberg. we now recognize the gentleman from new york, ms. maloney for five minutes. >> the flint drinking water crisis is a national scandal and it cries out for accountability from those that are responsible. and that is what we are trying to accomplish today. i would like to begin with mayor walling. mayor walling and mr. earley's statement

mr. del toro's preliminary memo that found high levels of lead in flint's water supply.hy did it take another five months for the final report to come out? >> i never told the mayor to disregard that memo? in fact, if you look at appendix 3 to my testimony, you'll see what actually occurred during the conversation that i had with the mayor. >> there's great dispute on that coming across the board. >> yes, i wrote the email. and i know what i said. and if we could take the time to take a moment to talk about that, i think we could clear that up. >> i'm not sure we could.