"Michigan Attorney General Sues 2 Companies Over Flint Water Crisis", 22 June 2016

Bill Schuette, the attorney general, announced a lawsuit against two companies that he said imperiled public health in Flint and contributed to the city’s lead-poisoned drinking water.

The companies, Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, or LAN [part of Leo A. Daly Company], were awarded contracts to advise the city about using the Flint River as its drinking water source. But, Mr. Schuette said, each failed to sound alarms about lead contamination, overlooked obvious problems and were complicit in the series of events that caused lead to leach from pipes and poison children...

Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, said...“It’s disturbing to hear that companies hired to ensure the safety of the city’s water supply may not have done what they were paid to do,” she said, adding that the city is still under contract with LAN, an engineering company based in Houston...

Paul Whitmore, a spokesman for Veolia, said that the company was “disappointed” with the lawsuit and noted that a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder largely faulted the state government for Flint’s water problems... A statement from Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam said Mr. Schuette “blatantly mischaracterized the role of LAN’s service to Flint.”... [full statement available on LAN's website]

Mr. Schuette was especially critical of Veolia, which consulted with the city after its switch to using the Flint River resulted in contaminants turning up in drinking water. He accused the company of “callously and fraudulently” dismissing medical concerns and reporting that the water was safe even as residents reported health problems and complained about orange-tinted water... In March, LeeAnne Walters, a Flint resident whose children were poisoned by lead, filed a lawsuit against LAN, Veolia and other companies...