There's a lively blog-like exchange happening on Enviro-Mich, a statewide e-mail list-serve that delivers topical messages to (at last count) 600 or so environmental activists, industry reps, lawyers, academics and media. The questions at the center of it: Why do we allow water to be removed from the ground in Michigan for free when we charge for oil and other minerals deposited in the ground, with the funds going to the public coffers? But if we start charging, are we just establishing a price and thereby hastening the day when water is a market commodity instead of a public trust resource?
So what do you think: should Great Lakes states put a price on water that is bottled and sold as such? Why or why not?
I'd hoped to link to the comments from the E-M archives, but it's out of date. Still, it might carry the messages soon:
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/last30days/
Posted by Dave at October 6, 2004 02:39 PM