JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A federal judge on Thursday attempted to get to the bottom of what spurred on two community meetings called by the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss Jackson water.
The meetings were slated for Thursday and Friday this week, with the EPA and U.S. Department of Justice seeking information on the improvements being made to the water system, as well as the mid and long-term future of it.
At a status conference held hours before the first session was set to get underway, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate asked an attorney for DOJ whether the meetings were called in response to a March 2023 letter from Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
“It seems the mayor is not a friend to the endeavor to straighten out this mess,” Wingate said. “I hope I’m wrong. He’s been antagonistic before, but I hope he realizes we’re here to work for the betterment of the public.”
In his March 27 letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Lumumba blasted Interim Third-Party Administrator Ted Henifin on several fronts, telling the regulatory leader that he would not communicate with the city and would not follow procurement rules when awarding contracts.
“Despite the end of the initial emergency response phase more than a year ago, the ITPM has failed to initiate competitive procurement processes for water systems operations and maintenance as required,” the mayor wrote. “Most notably, the ITPM remains stalwart in [his] intention to award a 10-year, $250 million contract to Jacobs Engineering” to manage the city’s water treatment plants.
As an officer of the court, Henifin is not bound by state procurement law. The manager has previously told WLBT that he chose Jacobs, in part, because no local firms had the capacity to do the work.
Henifin told Wingate that several of the topics the EPA is seeking comment on, mirror the mayor’s statements, including the EPA’s desire to hear from residents about “communications improvements” they’d like to see implemented.
Karl Fingerhood, senior counsel for the Justice Department’s Environmental Enforcement Section, however, refuted that, saying the questions being raised are “concerns we’ve heard for some time.”
“We wanted to get the public’s thoughts as far as what improvements they’ve seen, if they’ve had issues with not getting notified if there’s a boil water notice associated with some construction work, things like that,” he said. “It’s just feedback the EPA is going to use for its own purposes.”
Fingerhood said the EPA held similar meetings after the interim stipulated order was put in place and that the agency wants more meetings like those across the country when regulatory actions take place.
“When we had prior meetings, we promised we wouldn’t come in once… we’d come back at some point in the future,” he said. “This is some point in the future.”
EPA and DOJ are seeking input on the following items at two public meetings slated for this week.(Environmental Protection Agency)
Wingate said he knew about the previous meetings Fingerhood was referring to but questioned why the court was not made aware of the ones on October 10 and 11.
“I’m just making sure this letter was not some foundation for y’all coming in here to advise the public that ‘community input is needed,’” the judge said. “It could give a different impression to someone that the EPA, the powerful EPA and DOJ are coming here to investigate what’s been going on.”
Fingerhood said that wasn’t the case, and that the EPA and DOJ have gone on the record saying they’re pleased with the progress being made on restoring the city’s water and sewer systems under Henifin.
“The third-party manager meets regularly with both the EPA and the state technical people to discuss the work that he’s proposing and has done. They’ve been working well on the financial side of things, too,” he said. “Perhaps, in the past, there has been some conflict there, but recently those discussions have been going smoothly as well.”
Henifin and EPA were previously at odds over an agency policy regarding the distribution of federal funds for water system work. Henifin wanted the funding up front to help smaller contractors. The EPA changed that to reimburse JXN Water once work was finished.
Meanwhile, the third-party manager and Justice Department are currently battling each other in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals over the release of SNAP data, which Henifin contends is needed to fully implement his new water billing structure.
SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Henifin wants to give customers on SNAP a discount on their meter availability charge, saving them $30 a month.
Wingate also asked how regulatory officials would use the information gleaned at the meetings, and how they would vet it for accuracy.
“How will you know if the majority of [the attendees] won’t be political hacks? How will you know that?” he asked. “You don’t know what motive they have or whether they have a water issue at all.”
Fingerhood said individuals would not be required to give their names or addresses to speak, but that officials would follow up with speakers who raised specific concerns if need be.
Wingate also was concerned the sessions would be less about addressing the future of Jackson water and more about criticizing the third-party manager.
Henifin was ITPM in November 2022 as part of a federal court order taking over the city’s water system and water billing system.
As manager, he is responsible for implementing a list of “priority projects” designed to bring the water system into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Henifin is not bound by state procurement laws and is only answerable to Wingate.
Since he’s been appointed, Henifin has come under fire from city leaders and community activists for a lack of transparency and for failing to follow procurement laws when hiring contractors.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Chief of Staff Safiya Omari said the city urged anyone who had problems with JXN Water to attend the EPA’s sessions and speak out.
The mayor’s sister, another critic of Henifin, also urged people to attend. According to a notice obtained by Jackson Jambalaya, Rukia Lumumba, with the People’s Advocacy Institute, said people’s involvement was “essential to ensuring that the long-term solutions reflect the needs and concerns of our community.”
Last year, Rukia Lumumba and other community activists appeared in District Court where they raised some of the same concerns being raised now.
Some individuals also raised comments about Henifin’s race. Henifin is white, while the majority of people served by JXN Water are Black.
Wingate, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, responded in a July 2023 order, saying some of the comments were reminiscent of those made when African Americans were on the receiving end.
“I’m further mystified that if you simply wanted an outreach to determine the status of things, why did you not ask the court for a status meeting?” he asked. “I can’t, under the procedure you’re proposing, [see] how this can be helpful.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version. Rukia Lumumba has not commented on the Interim Third-Party Manager’s race.
Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.
