Within weeks the Granholm Administration will make a determination about the second proposed Ice Mountain water bottling project, this one in Evart, Michigan. Courtesy of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, here is an analysis of what's at stake:
Going, Going, Gone!
The recent decision by the City of Evart to dedicate one of its public drinking water wells to Nestle Corporation, which intends to pipe, truck, bottle and sell the water, could be the fatal leak in the legal dam protecting the Great Lakes. The city’s water giveaway (at 88 cents per 1,000 gallons) is not only bad business, it is a dangerous precedent that could undermine Michigan’s legal case for preventing additional long-range exports, whether in bottles, pipelines, or freighters. Here’s why we’re asking you to tell Governor Granholm and the Legislature to block this sweetheart deal:
Nestle is getting an unfairly low price. While Evart residents pay $1.39 per 1,000 gallons for water (including sewage disposal), Nestle will pay $.88 for 1,000 gallons. Your water bill is 60% more expensive per unit of water used.
Nestle will make enormous profits. The maximum 250 million gallons per year that Nestle can extract from “its” well could translate to hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. If Nestle sells the water at $1 per gallon and its costs are even as high as 20 cents per gallon to get the water to market, the profit would exceed $210 million per year.
Nestle is making unenforceable promises about a bottling plant and jobs. The jobs supported by the Evart wells already exist in Stanwood, where the water is being piped and trucked. While Nestle has suggested it might build a second Michigan plant in Evart, this is highly unlikely. Nestle has two water bottling plants in only three other states – Maine, California (the plants are 400 miles apart) and Texas (240 miles apart). Nestle has already constructed an addition to its Stanwood plant to accommodate future water sources such as Evart. How many jobs will be created to run a local pump station?
Nestle’s new project converts a public resource all citizens of Michigan own to a private commodity generating huge profits. Spring water has never been for sale in Michigan on a large scale – until now. Under traditional legal principles, the waters of all rivers, lakes and springs in Michigan are protected by the state government and owned by the people. Now Nestle is privatizing your spring water – and not even paying the state and taxpayers a share of its huge profit.
Nestle’s Evart project will make it harder for Michigan to stop other businesses and governments from taking their piece of the Great Lakes. Michigan cannot hope to sustain its opposition to others who seek to export Great Lakes water if it is promoting this practice within its own borders.
Nestle’s Evart project is not authorized by any state law. In fact, it is inconsistent with hundreds of years of common law.
The time to take action is now. Write Governor Granholm and your state senator and representative. Ask them to:
• Stop the Nestle project now.
• Submit the export to regional review by all Great Lakes governors, as required by federal law.
• Pass a state law requiring legislative approval of any water-for-sale projects.
For more information contact:
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) at 231-972-8856
http://www.saveMIwater.org