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State’s legal fees in Flint water crisis climb to $1.2 million

Posted at 2:19 PM, Mar 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-08 14:19:46-05

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder’s office has informed a state board that its outside legal fees related to the ongoing Flint lead contamination crisis could climb to $1.2 million.

The notification came after Snyder’s previously estimated legal fees — to be paid with public money — hovered at nearly $1 million in February. The Attorney General’s office may spend an additional $1.5 million for Flint-related legal costs.

Snyder’s office hired attorneys Eugene Driker and Brian Lennon. Driker is assisting the Attorney General’s ongoing Flint work, while Lennon was hired to help with the estimated hundreds of thousands of emails and other records related to the Flint public health crisis that the state is and will be releasing, Snyder’s office says.

Snyder’s office says it’s necessary because the state lacks internal resources.