Emails show officials sniping amid 2nd Michigan lead crisis

By JOHN FLESHER and DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The release of communications related to Benton Harbor’s water crisis shows strained ties between state environmental regulators and the head of the city’s drinking water system as they tried to contain what has become Michigan’s second high-profile lead contamination crisis in less than a decade. Liesl Clark, director of the state environmental agency, acknowledges her department could do better in Benton Harbor, but says the newly released documents demonstrate it went “above and beyond legal requirements.” Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instructed Benton Harbor to improve corrosion control, repair filters at its treatment plant and better notify residents.