EPA spends nearly $300k to track energy and water use of office workers while doing nothing about children drinking lead-laced water

Saturday, March 26, 2016 by: Jennifer Lea Reynolds
Tags: EPA, water usage, office workers

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(NaturalNews) While lead-laden water has destroyed the lives of many U.S. residents, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has remained disturbingly hands-off in the matter, if not ignoring the problem entirely.

One case where their disregard for human safety is evident involves the residents of Flint, Michigan. Although regional EPA officials were aware that there was lead in the city's water, they brushed it under the carpet, only making the issue known to the public months after the agency knew – while people's health suffered in the process.

So bad is the situation, that a recent congressional hearing on the Flint water contamination crisis led to Flint's governor Rick Synder and EPA head Gina McCarthy being urged to resign.

As Governor Synder and EPA official urged to resign, another lead-laced drinking water crisis strikes, this time in Ohio

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pennsylvania, made it clear that he thinks Snyder should leave his position. "As governor of a state that failed and poisoned its own people, don't you have a moral responsibility to resign?" he asked Snyder.

As for Gina McCarthy, House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz told her, "You had the opportunity. You had the presence. You had the authority. You had the backing of the federal government. And you did not act when you had the chance. If you were going to do the courageous thing, then you, too, should step down."

The latest EPA debacle now involves Sebring, Ohio. Lead has been found in the drinking water there too, yet – just as in the case of Flint – the Ohio EPA failed to inform the public until many months later. It's said that they were aware of the problem as early as last October, yet failed to notify residents or issue warnings.

EPA sinks big bucks into effort to track water usage instead of helping those harmed by lead-contaminated drinking water

So, what's an organization that certainly has its share of water-related public relations struggles ahead of it to do? Why, spend nearly $300,000 to track the water and energy use of Americans in the workplace, of course.

That's exactly what the EPA has done. While people's health has suffered from drinking toxic water, the EPA is turning a blind eye by throwing money at another effort altogether. How about directing some of that time and money to people who have become sick or who have died from drinking toxic water? Talk about a slap in the face for people living in areas like Flint and Sebring.

The $300,000 was given to Lucid Design Group, a California-based software company which is poised to assess the water and energy use of working Americans, providing them with real-time feedback that will hopefully change their wasteful behaviors.

Jared Blumenfeld, an EPA regional administrator, believes that making employees aware of their energy and water use could make them more inclined to make changes. "Lucid's project is a great example of how technology can be used to help protect the environment," he said. "Giving office workers immediate feedback on their energy use can help them to change their habits for the better."

The EPA press release announcing the funding states the following:

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding $295,507 to Lucid Design Group, Inc., located in Oakland, to develop innovative technology to protect the environment. A total of about $2.4 million was awarded to eight small businesses nationwide; Lucid is the sole recipient in California."

Wait a minute.

That's nice and all, but shouldn't they be more concerned about protecting the environment – and the people – in Flint and Sebring? And shouldn't they be doing it NOW? Instead of sinking money into a company that hopes to develop behavior-changing technologies, wouldn't that money be better used to help the children and adults who are suffering after ingesting lead-laced water? It just appears to be a bad move for the EPA, which is already facing mounting pressures involving their hush-hush approach to the problem of lead-contaminated water.

Sources for this article include:

FreeBeacon.com

DetroitNews.com

DetroitNews.com

NaturalNews.com

TruthWiki.org