Just posted on the Michigan DEQ's website is a copy of the brief the state filed in preparation for the June 14 Court of Appeals hearing of the watershed ruling by Mecosta County Judge Root that would have shut down Nestle's original water bottling operation in December 2003, if not for the state's intervention to request a stay.
The state is further muddying the waters with this brief. On the one hand, it makes the useful point that the state already has authority under the Inland Lakes and Streams Act to control actions that diminish a lake or stream like Nestle's bottling operation was proven to do. The predecessor Engler Administration refused to exercise this authority or admit it existed. Presumably today's DEQ is willing to try to enforce the law.
On the other hand, the state's brief challenges the judge's reasoning in two key areas where he found in favor of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, and fashioned an important precedent in defense of Michigan's public trust waters.
Give the state a D-plus and hope the "conservatives" on the Appeals Court have respect for lower court rulings.
http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-wb-nestle-brief.pdf
Posted by Dave at May 23, 2005 03:37 PM