Against a backdrop of complaints she did not do enough to prevent the Flint, Mich., water crisis, Susan Hedman, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency's Chicago-based region 5, which oversees Michigan, announced Thursday her resignation, according to The Hill.
Here are four things to know about Ms. Hedman's resignation and the crisis in Flint.
1. Ms. Hedman will step down Feb. 1, and her resignation has been approved by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, according to the report.
2. Ms. Hedman told The Detroit News her office knew as early as last April of the risks of switching Flint's water supply from Detroit to the local Flint River, according to the report. Ms. Hedman did not alert the public; she only pushed for officials to resolve the issue of pipe corrosion and unhealthy levels of lead, according to the report.
3. The city switched to the Flint River water supply in 2014 to save money while building a more cost-effective regional water system to bring in water from Lake Huron. After hundreds of children got lead poisoning from the new water supply, the mayor declared a state of emergency in December 2015. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint Saturday.
4. The state's director of the Department of Environmental Quality, Dan Wyant, stepped down in December, according to the report.
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