LANSING, Mich. — The United States District Court has laid out facts surrounding the Edenville Dam failure in 2020.
The breach resulted in flooding across mid-Michigan along the Tittabawasee River.
The Michigan Department of Attorney General says a false narrative regarding the failure was corrected Tuesday after a discovery order was issued against Lee Mueller in May.
Mueller was allegedly in charge of the dam when it failed.
We’re told Mueller withheld correspondence regarding the case in spite of the discovery order and continues to do so. He was reportedly sanctioned on Sept. 30 for disobeying the order.
The state outlines what it says are now established facts in the lawsuit:
- Mueller and attorneys prepared a Public Response to inquiries regarding the Edenville Dam after the breach.
- The aforementioned response comprised of press releases, emails and interviews that had been given to media personnel.
- The response contained false statements that were made to place the blame on the state government.
- The response contained a statement claiming Boyce Hydro and Mueller requested state officials to reduce Wixom Lake to river levels permanently in September 2019 due to the incorrect claim that the dam’s spillway capacity would not support the lake throughout the year. No such claim or request was put before the state.
- A safety engineer determined on March 26, 2020 that the dam’s spillway met the state’s standards and did not require updates.
- Mueller and Boyce Hydro requested Wixom Lake to be lowered during the 2019–20 winter season out of concerns for possible ice jams. They elevated the lake back to normal levels in spring 2020.
- The response included an incorrect statement that lake levels were filled to normal in April 2020 in response to the state acting against it. Mueller and Boyce Hydro refilled the lake voluntarily on April 13, 2020 without issuing concerns regarding safety.
20220930 - Established Facts as Ordered by the Court by WXMI on Scribd
“This action by the Court corrects a misleading and false narrative crafted by the defendants as a propaganda campaign against the state,” says Attorney General Dana Nessel. “We know the owners of the dam, with their long history of neglect, are responsible for the dam’s failure. This order from the Court is critical to establish a foundation of truth from which our legal actions will proceed. I am committed to ensure those responsible are held accountable for their actions.”
Attorney Lawrence Kogan, who represents Mueller in the case, released the following statement in response to the Court order:
"The federal Court Order’s 'finding of facts,' which the Michigan Attorney General proclaims exonerates the State from all culpability for the breach of the Edenville Dam was authored (manufactured) entirely by none other than the State of Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Thus, it was not the result of a rigorous adversarial process of evidentiary cross examination by the parties and sentient fact finding by the Court, either at the pretrial or trial stages of the WDMI litigation. Frankly, this case is not even midway through the discovery period, and no evidentiary record, except for this sanctions order, has been established. But the Court order assures that no trial will be necessary.
"The Court found virtually irrelevant this individual Defendant’s lack of financial and human resources, following the Boyce bankruptcy and State condemnation of all its property, rendering him unable to hire the expert personnel needed in this complex dam breach litigation to cull years of voluminous records to respond correctly to the State’s broadly scoped discovery requests within the ordinary time frames imposed on multinational corporate defendants.
"This order reflects not the administration of justice, but rather, the administration of the Court’s calendar. It is truly a sad day in America."
READ MORE: Owners of Edenville dam were warned of potential failure
READ MORE: Report says Michigan 2020 dam failures were ‘preventable’
