Snyder's office releases more than 20,000 emails on Flint water crisis

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's office has released more emails regarding the Flint water crisis. 

More than 20,000 emails were released Friday morning. These newly released emails reveal requests from agencies such as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the state's Department of Health about Flint's water. 

View the files here: www.Michigan.gov/snyder

In these emails are names and dates of those giving key warnings, and those who ignored those warnings. 

April 24, 2015: Miguel Del Toral, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), makes it clear "Flint has essentially not been using any corrosion control treatment since April 30, 2014."

 A week later, Pat Cook at the DEQ responds. Cook said legally they can use up to two years of study before they are required to use controls. He added they planned to switch to a new source in a year, so taking action would have little value.

The DEQ was wrong and the city's water supply was poisoned with lead. 

"It can be a felony for not fulfilling the duties of your office," said Local 4 legal expert Neil Rockind. "It can be a felony for not acting when you should have. It can be a felony for turning a blind eye when you had a duty, and all three of those things are clearly involved in the Flint water crisis."

Other potentially criminal emails involve the throwing out of high lead samples -- possibly to stay below federal lead reporting levels -- and emails about the rapid spike in Legionnaires' -- 10 people have died. It's not yet known if the water supply is to blame.

In march 2015, Jim Henry of the Genese County health department said, "I want to make sure in writing that there are no misunderstandings regarding the significance and urgent public health issue. Stephan Busch at the DEQ responded: "The county is being premature and prejudice"

Th emails indicate officials at the Flint water plant felt rushed to make the switch from Detroit to Flint water, saying they were not ready but higher-ups had their own agenda. Federal and state investigators are going through the documents to determine if the paper trail leads to criminal charges.

In January, the governor released the first batch of emails sent during 2014 and 2015 regarding Flint's drinking water crisis.

View those emails here.