As the Flint water crisis was being discovered, Michigan environmental officials tried to manipulate exemptions in the state's freedom of information law to keep secret emails that should have been subject to disclosure.

"LANSING — In mid-October, as the massive scope of the Flint drinking water scandal and public health crisis was beginning to sink in, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality engineer Adam Rosenthal wrote an e-mail to two of his then supervisors in the department's drinking water section.

The contents of the e-mail were purely factual: A Flint resident's name and address, along with two lead readings for water samples taken from faucets at the home.

But typed just beneath the message were the words: "Preliminary and Deliberative not subject to FOIA.""

Paul Egan reports for the Detroit Free Press March 14, 2016. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Emails: Michigan Govt. Made 'Active Effort' to Keep Flint Water Crisis A Secret" (Ebony) [3]

"Flint Emails Meant to Stay Secret" (Jet) [4]

"Hiding The Truth About Flint Water Crisis: Many Emails From Officials Staying Sealed" (Salon) [5]

"Michigan Agency Demands $11K To Release Legionnaires' Disease Documents" (CNN) [6]

Opinion: "Tragedy of Flint Illustrates Urgent Need To Strengthen Michigan FOIA" (Detroit Free Press) [7]

Editorial: "State Workers Flouted FOIA In Flint E-Mails" (Detroit Free Press) [8]

Opinion: "Putnam: Michigan Sunshine Laws Erode" (Lansing State Journal) [9]

"Sunshine Week: Watchdog Group Wants Michigan To Rise From Bottom Of Transparency Rankings" (Michigan Radio) [10]

Opinion: "Michigan Going Backward On Access To Public Information" (Port Huron Times Herald) [11]

"Snyder Emails Detail State’s Missteps In Flint Crisis" (Detroit News)
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/20/snyder-flint-e... [12]