We spoke with Scott Smith on Tuesday (February 19) and discussed a range of issues regarding his work as Chief Investigator for Water Defense shortly after a federal emergency was declared in January 2016 over the Flint water crisis.

Below is the first segment of our interview on Flint’s News Talk 1470 WFNT.  Here are two big points to listen for in this first segment:

  • When lead sinkers were found up a spigot in a home being sampled by Harold Harrington and Ben Ranger for Water Defense, some residents were angry with Smith for reporting the incident. In this segment, Smith says a theory was suggested that George Krisztian from MDEQ had placed the sinkers there, but there was no evidence for this theory.  Video of the discovery of these sinkers was immediately forwarded to the EPA and MDEQ by Smith, and an investigation was launched into this episode, which was first publicized at the Flint Water Study blog after they learned of the incident through a FOIA request.
  • Smith also emphasized the importance of a statement from Bob Bowcock on the Steve Harvey show on March 14, 2016, not to bathe in Flint water. As Smith put it, “he was the expert.”

The whole interview is worth listening to, beginning here with segment one below (segment 2 link):

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