Flint mother, activist opens up about latest water crisis settlement
A $25 million settlement was reached between a consulting company and members of a class action lawsuit.
By Trae Harris and Hannah Mose
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FLINT, Michigan (WNEM) — A $25 million settlement was reached between a consulting company and members of a class action lawsuit.
This comes after a settlement with an engineering company, and it’s in addition to the more than $620 million settlement in 2021.
“This is some bit of good news, not good enough, but it is — in my eyes personally — Veolia admitting they did do something wrong,” said Flint mother and activist Melissa Mays.
The litigation agreement will include $1,500 payments to individual minors, reaching about 45,000 residents in Flint.
“We have a large population of underbanked residents investing that money in themselves and their future. We want the people to be able to maximize these dollars, put it toward a property that you want to buy or homes that you want to live in,” said Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley.
Veolia North America is being partially held responsible for the water crisis, but the company is maintaining its innocence, claiming government officials are responsible for the lead contamination.
The company was hired as a consultant and argued it made good recommendations about solutions but was ignored by government officials at the time, which is something Mays said just isn’t a good enough excuse.
“Today is day number 3,569 in an ongoing Flint Water Crisis. We’re rolling up on a decade here. And $25 million sure sounds like a lot. And it is a lot from a company that still claims that they’re innocent,” she said.
The lead-contaminated water is blamed for causing learning disabilities in many children and other medical problems, which is why Mays feels more needs to be done.
“What price tag would you put on your brains? Your kid’s future? The people that we’ve lost? There’s no amount. Is it enough? Not by far,” Mays said.
Neeley said this latest settlement is still only a portion of the large collective pot of $655 million of what could be owed and distributed to residents.
“We’re moving toward the completion of the litigation, but dollars and cents are still going to be put forth in addition to what we’ve already seen,” Neeley said.
Veolia’s class trial was set to start Feb. 13. A judge still needs to approve the settlement.
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