Keep Nestlé Water Bottling Plant out of the Columbia River Gorge

7/28/2019 Keep Nestl Water Bottling Plant out of the Columbia River Gorge

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Now, Nesl Waers is deermined o build and operae

a waer botling plan in he Columbia River Gorge own

o Cascade Locks,3 seeking o botle and sell essenial

spring waer resources or is Arrowhead brand, as well

as municipal waer or is Pure Lie brand.4

A Rundown on Nestls BottlingProposal for the Columbia River Gorge

To supply waer or is Arrowhead brand, Nesl would

exrac approximaely 100 million gallons o spring waer

per year rom a spring ha he Oregon Deparmen o

Fish and Wildlie (ODFW) mainains or a ish hachery5

ha raises endangered salmon.6 I ODFW agrees o his

waer exchange, hen he company would be charged

he sandard municipal waer rae or he spring waer

and ODFW would insead use municipal well waer or

he sae-owned hachery7 only o resell he waer in

waseul plasic botles, which can cos housands imes

more money han drinking i rom he ap in he irsplace.8

Cascade Locks municipal ap waer, which is sourced

rom groundwaer,9 would supply Nesls Pure Lie

brand and replace he waer wihdrawn rom he hach-

ery spring,10 oaling around 157 million gallons o waer

pumped annually.11 As one analysis o he proposed plan

poins ou, The long-erm capaciy o he ciys ground-

waer o supply his much waer is uncerain, especially

in ligh o climaic changes ha are expeced o impac

Keep a Nestl Water Bottling Plant

Out of the Columbia River Gorge)DFW6KHHW$SULO

Mulinaional waer botling companies have creaed a marke ha capializes onhe alse premise ha botled waer is somehow beter and purer han ap waer.This misconcepion is largely he resul o crafy markeing acics,1 despie he ac ha

he U.S. ederal governmen requires more rigorous saey monioring o municipal ap

waer han i does o botled waer.2

PHOTO CC-BY FRANK KOVALCHEK / FLICKR.COM


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hydrological cycles.12 Overall, his deal could jeopardize

local supply, and he pumping operaions could harm he

environmen and naural resources ha he communiy

may rely on or local uses, arming or residenial recre-

aion.13

3URWV2YHU3HRSOHand Community Discord

Batles beween owns and Nesl have disruped har-

mony in communiies across he Unied Saes, ranging

rom Caliornia,14 o Michigan,15 o Maine.16

Cascade Locks locals have been promised jobs and a

boos o he local economy.17 Bu i hese jobs are any-

hing like jobs promised o McCloud, Cali., in a previous

botling plan proposal, hey could all below he easible

living wage.18 Indeed, he social and environmenal coss

or naural resources and local economies o a botling

aciliy can come a he expense o he residens and o

he benei o he company.19

Roughly 10 years ago, Nesl ried o engineer a deal in

McCloud, which would have paid abou one cen per

123 gallons o mine and hen botle he areas groundwa-

er $0.00008 per gallon.20 By comparison, he average

sae rae or municipal use o groundwaer was one cen

per 40 gallons.21 Finally, afer pressure rom ciizens in

he 1,300-person own who go wind o he deal, Nesl

wihdrew is proposal o botle spring waer in McCloud

in Sepember 2009.22

Many communiies have had no opion bu o go o

cour o ry o proec heir waer rom corporae waer

botlers. These legal batles can be exremely expensive

and ime consuming,23 and waer botling schemes have

orn owns apar.24 In Mecosa Couny, Mich., Nesl

said ha i is botling plan was unwaned, i would

leave; bu his ended up being unrue.25 The commu-

niy resored o raising money o ake Nesl o cour.26

Even hough he sae Supreme Cour ruled in avor o

Nesl,27 he plainis coninued o voice hemselves, and

evenually he wo paries setled ou o cour afer ap-

proximaely nine years o conlic.28 Despie setling o

pump a lower raes, Nesl is sill able o keep is plan

in a own ha so adamanly waned he company ou.29

Potential Impacts to the Environmentand Finite Water Resources

Groundwaer sources are ofen conneced o surace

waers,30 and when an aquier is over-pumped, he waer

levels o a conneced surace waer body can all and

waer lows can change.31 Large-scale groundwaer ex-

racion, such as or waer botling plans, can reduce

he availabiliy o local groundwaer and surace waer

sources.34 In ac, afer Nesl began pumping ground-waer rom a Michigan aquier, waer lows in conneced

surace waers ell o he poin ha mud las devel-

oped.35

In Oregon, he proposed waer exracion may aec he

ish ha depend on he Columbia River and he overall

groundwaer and hydrological sysem. As saed in a

U.S. Geological Survey repor, changes in he naural

ineracion o ground waer and surace waer caused by

human aciviies can poenially have a signiican eec

on aquaic environmens.36

Moreover, hrough Nesls own admission, he proposal

or he Columbia River Gorge plan would increase ra-

ic up o 200 ruck rips a day,37 which could be o he

derimen o Oregon axpayers who would pay or road

upgrades.38 Transporing he botled waer spews carbon

dioxide ino he air,39 complicaing eors o comba cli-

mae change.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLI PENNINGTON / KELLIPENNINGTON.COM


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YOU Can Help Protect the Cascade Locks

In Oregon, by law, all waer belongs o he public.40

Furhermore, his waer exchange would go agains he

Waer Resources Deparmens mission o resore and

proec sreamlows and waersheds in order o ensure

he long-erm susainabiliy o Oregons ecosysems,

economy, and qualiy o lie.41

The waer in quesion should be proeced or he beneio all Oregonians, raher han given away a axpayer-

subsidized raes by he sae or Nesls personal proi.

The people o Oregon should no allow he prois o a

mulinaional botled waer company o ake precedence,

and eleced oicials should proec Oregons essenial

spring, ground and surace waers by no allowing his

plan o go orward.

Therefore, We Urge You to Take Action:

Are you concerned abou Nesls plan o botle Oregons

spring waer? You can help sop Nesl by signing a pe-iion ha asks Governor Kizhaber o ell ODFW no

o ollow hrough wih a waer exchange ha would le

Nesl botle and sell public waer.

You can conac he Governor direcly via email,

leter or phone:

Email Governor Kizhaber, asking him o say no o

Nesl, a htp://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/

ShareYourOpinion.aspx, or call him a 503-378-4582.

Send he governor a leter:

Governor KizhaberAtn: Ciizens Represenaive

160 Sae Capiol

900 Cour S.

Salem, OR 97301

Send Oregon Deparmen of Fish and Wildlife

a message elling hem o sop he exchange

and o say no o Nesla:

[email protected] , or call

hem a 503-947-6000.

Learn More and Stay Informed

Visi our blog a keepnesleou.wordpress.com,

and join us on Facebook a facebook.com/groups/

keepnesleou.

Contact us!

To learn more or ge involved, please conac

Julia DeGraw, Norhwes Organizer, a

[email protected] or 971-266-4528.

Endnotes &RUSRUDWH$FFRXQWDELOLW\QWHUQDWLRQDO7DSSLQJ&RQJUHVVWR*HW2

the Bottle. Think Outside the Bottl e Campaign, third in a series. Feb-

ruary 2011 at 4; Hu, Zhihua et al. Bottled Water: United States Con-

sumers and Their Perceptions of Water Q uality. International Journal

of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 8. February 21, 2011 at

575.

86*RYHUQPHQW$FFRXQWDELOLW\2FH%RWWOHG:DWHU)'$6DIHW\DQG

Consumer Protections Are Often Less St ringent than Comparable EPA

Protections for Tap Water. (GAO-09-610.) June 2009 at 2 and 6.

%DOO'HERUDK%RWWOHG:DWHU3LWV1HVWOYV*UHHQVThe Wall Street

Journal0D\.HHQ-R\1HVWO2XWWR%RWWOHWKH&ROXPELD

Gorge. Columbia Overlook. (A Sierra Club Publication from the Colum-

ELD*URXSRI2UHJRQ9RO1R)HE$SULODW0HXQLHU

$QGUH1HVWOHH\HV&ROXPELD*RUJHVSULQJWRERWWOHZDWHUThe Orego-

nian. June 12, 2009.

4 Keen (2012) at 1; Sheeran, Kristen A. and Feng Zhou. The Proposed

1HVWO%RWWOHG:DWHU)DFLOLW\Q&DVFDGH/RFNV$3UHOLPLQDU\$QDO\VLV

of the Economic Issues. Oc tober 2011 at 3.

5 Sheeran and Zhou (2011) at 20; Meunier (2009).

3HGHUVRQ'RURWK\7UDQVIHU3URJUDP$GYLVRU:DWHU5HVRXUFHV'H-

SDUWPHQW/HWWHUWR2UHJRQ'HSDUWPHQWRI)LVKDQG:LOGOLIHUHJDUG-

LQJ7UDQVIHU$SSOLFDWLRQ7DQGHQFORVHG3UHOLPLQDU\'HWHUPLQD-

WLRQ3URSRVLQJ$SSURYDORI$GGLWLRQDO3RLQWVRI'LYHUVLRQ)HEUXDU\

2012 at 2.

'LQJIHOGHU-DFNLHHWDO/HWWHUIURPHOHFWHGRFLDOVWR*RYHUQRU.LW]KD

ber in opposition to the proposed plant. April 4, 2012.

8 Corporate Accountability International (2011) at 4, 5 and 8.

9 Sheeran and Zhou (2011) at 20.

10 Ibid. at 20.

11 Food & Water Watch calculation, based on Ibid. at 20.

12 Ibid. at 20.

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WKH:DWHU%RWWOLQJQGXVWU\V([WUDFWLRQRI*URXQGZDWHU'RPHVWLF

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ZDWHUSODQWVHWRQHLJKERUDJDLQVWQHLJKERULQVWUXJJOLQJ0F&ORXG

Calif. Bloomberg Business Week. April 16, 2008

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11 to 14.


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)DUZHOO-DFNLH7DSSLQJLQ$IWHU\HDUVLQ0DLQH3RODQG6SULQJ-

VWLUVXSGHEDWHDERXWWKHVWDWHVIXWXUHMainebiz. April 20, 2009.

5DHHOG*REER-XOLH&DVFDGH/RFNV3UHSDUHVIRU1HVWO:LWK'XH

'LOLJHQFHHood River News (Ore.). April 18, 2012.

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PFFORXGZDWHUVKHGFRXQFLORUJQRGH$FFHVVHG0DUFK

(&21RUWKZHVW7KH3RWHQWLDO(FRQRPLF(HFWVRIWKH3URSRVHG:DWHU

Bottling Facility in McCloud. October 2007 at 6.

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&RPPRGLFDWLRQDQG&RQWHVWDWLRQOrganization & Environment. 2012

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23 Madigan (2005) at 13 and 14.

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25 Madigan (2005) at 12.

26 Ibid. at 13 and 14.

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America, Inc., 479 Mich. 280 (2007) (Kelly, J., dissenting) at 15.

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EHU$YDLODEOHDWKWWSZZZVDYHPLZDWHURUJZRUGSUHVVZS

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29 Ibid.

:LQWHU7&HWDO86'HSDUWPHQWRIWKHQWHULRU86*HRORJLFDO6XU-

vey. Ground Water and Surface Water. A Single Source. U.S. Geol ogi-cal Survey Circular 1139. 1998 at iii and 1.

31 Ibid. at iii and 14.

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33 Madigan (2005) at 13.

34 Winter et al. (1998) at vii.

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VSQZFRPSURSRVHGSURMHFWWUXFNWUDF$FFHVVHG0DUFK

Keen (2012) at 1.

36 Keen (2012) at 1.

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Keep Nestlé Water Bottling Plant out of the Columbia River Gorge

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