WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday it is joining a criminal investigation into lead contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, exploring whether any laws were broken in a crisis that has captured international attention.

Federal prosecutors in Michigan were working with an investigative team that included the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General, and the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said.

An FBI spokeswoman said the agency was determining whether federal laws were broken, but declined further comment.

Also on Tuesday, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was meeting with officials and community leaders in Flint.

The city, about 60 miles northwest of Detroit, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroit’s system to the Flint River in April 2014.

Flint switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children. The more corrosive water from the river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did. Lead is a toxic agent that can damage the tissues of the nervous system.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who extended a state of emergency in Flint until April 14, has repeatedly apologized for the state’s poor handling of the matter.

“It’s important to look at missteps at all three levels of government – local, state and federal – so such a crisis doesn’t occur again,” said Dave Murray, a spokesman for Snyder.

Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and a former federal prosecutor, said on Tuesday there was limited ability to seek criminal charges under U.S. environmental laws. Prosecutors would need to find something egregious like a knowingly false statement.

“You need a lie,” he said. “You need something that is false to build a case.”

Simply failing to recognize the seriousness of the situation would not rise to that level, Henning added.

In Washington, Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, Democrats from Michigan, pushed for $600 million in aid – mostly in federal funds – to help Flint replace pipes and provide healthcare.

Meanwhile, Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who chairs an environmental committee, said an agreement to help Flint was close and would be a combination of revolving funds and other aid he did not detail. Money from a revolving fund is like a loan, with the money going to the recipient and then being repaid so there is no net cost to U.S. taxpayers.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said any aid to Flint must not add to U.S. budget deficits for “what is a local and state problem.”

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver on Tuesday called for the removal of lead pipes in the city, starting with the highest-risk homes.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on the Flint crisis on Wednesday and has invited the EPA’s acting deputy assistant administrator in its Office of Water to testify, as well as Keith Creagh, the new director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The committee also invited Darnell Earley, the former Flint emergency manager, but he declined to testify. Earley, currently the Detroit Public Schools emergency manager, will step down from that position on Feb. 29.

(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit, David Bailey in Minneapolis and Tim Gardner and Richard Cowan in Washington; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Grant McCool and G Crosse)