This column appeared in the Detroit Free Press a few weeks ago but escaped attention.
Granholm's effort to enact some rules at least keeping Michigan water within the Great Lakes basin is now tied up in state and federal court cases with Nestle Waters, which bottles Michigan groundwater under its Ice Mountain brand and wants to take more. It is likely that those cases are going to produce a de facto water policy for Michigan while the Legislature holds more hearings and the Department of Environmental Quality tries to write more rules.
My guess is that in the absence of a genuine water law, the courts are going to open the faucet and Michigan will only be able to watch the trucks roll.
http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/erdz26e_20050626.htm
Posted by Dave at July 14, 2005 03:55 PM