Controversial Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Flint, Michigan water crisis on an unlikely culprit this week: Climate Change; saying global warming deniers must explain their decision to “kids with rising blood lead levels and brain damage.”
“Frontline communities are already impacted by the climate crisis & environmental injustice. That’s why they’re named in the #GreenNewDeal. Fixing the pipes in Flint, cleaning the air in the Bronx & transitioning away from pipelines on reservations sets an example for our future,” posted AOC on social media.
Frontline communities are already impacted by the climate crisis & environmental injustice. That’s why they’re named in the #GreenNewDeal.
Fixing the pipes in Flint, cleaning the air in the Bronx & transitioning away from pipelines on reservations sets an example for our future. https://t.co/GmwZEHYJ87
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 9, 2019
“This is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern for clean air and clean water is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx who are suffering from the highest rates of asthma in the country. Tell that to the families in Flint whose kids have rising blood lead levels and brain damage,” said Ocasio-Cortez on Capitol Hill.
The Flint crisis began when city officials decided to switch their water supply from Lake Huron to the less expensive Flint River. Insufficient water treatment allowed lead from the water pipes to contaminate the town’s drinking water; impacting more than 100,000 residents.
Ocasio-Cortez made a similar claim this week when she blamed a summer DC thunderstorm on Republican lawmakers.
“Unprecedented flooding is quickly becoming a new normal. Despite that, Republicans are tripling down on fossil fuels w/no plan to transition off them, or make the critical infra investments we need to prep for the climate crisis. Each day of inaction puts more of us in danger,” posted Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter.
Unprecedented flooding is quickly becoming a new normal.
Despite that, Republicans are tripling down on fossil fuels w/no plan to transition off them, or make the critical infra investments we need to prep for the climate crisis.
Each day of inaction puts more of us in danger. https://t.co/J8yqzguN5O
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez made similar comments earlier this year during a DC thunderstorm.
“They just issued a tornado watch in DC. Oh no, there’s people stuck outside. We need to get them out! This is crazy,” said the Congresswoman.
“Tornadoes are challenging to link to climate change links due to their nature (geographically, limited, acute patterns, how they form, etc.),” Ocasio-Cortez told her followers. “But we DO know that tornadoes HAVE been changing. They are no longer being limited to the Great Plains, and are shifting to other regions of the country.”
“The climate crisis is real y’all … guess we’re at casual tornadoes in growing regions of the country,” she later wrote on Instagram.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue was quick to point out the legislator’s error.
“The Congresswoman @AOC does not know the difference between weather and climate,” wrote Maue. “Let’s try an easy analogy: Weather is what outfit you wear heading out the door. Climate is your closet wardrobe.”