Michigan town in water fight with Nestle-Pays Michigan $200 a year for 136 Million Gals

Maryann Borden says the local creek is different from the cold creek that she remembers as a kid, and she has photos. (the story for some reason does not show these photos). And she also wants you of her lawn.

Maryann Borden, a retired teacher who has lived in the western Michigan town since 1953, has photos documenting changes in the Twin Creek river since Nestle began pumping water in the region in the early 2000s for its "Ice Mountain" brand of bottled water.

"It's not the same creek," Borden, 73, told AFP. "It's narrower and deeper and therefore warmer," compared with the "biting cold" water of her youth.

"The trout can't survive in it because the water is warmer," she added.

www.afp.com...

Ahhh Nestle wants to up the pumping from a well from 200 almost free gals a minute to 400 almost free gals a minute. And the locals don't like it.

The booster station would help the company pump more water from a controversial Osceola County wellhead if the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approves the project. Nestle wants to pump 400 gallons of water a minute, up from the 250 a minute currently.

The County court said go ahead and pump that almost free clear gold at the higher rate. But hold on a minute.....
Water levels are a-dropping according to land marks. So the town officials voted to appeal the decision. And are you ready? Nestle says there is no water level drop, and their in house studies prove this. Are land marks a good measure of water levels? If the levels are down is it Nestle of is it a natural cycle in the water table?

Town officials voted in January to appeal a county court's ruling in Nestle's favor, portending a judicial saga.

"If you look at the culverts, they provide an historic landmark," said Tim Ladd, manager of Osceola Township.
AFP / Steven M. Herppich Area residents say water extraction techniques of the Nestle Waters bottling facility in Stanwood, Michigan, have damaged the environment

"You don't have to be a geologist or a hydrologist to see those water levels," he added. "The water lake tables are lower today than what they were two years ago."

Nestle rejects this argument and also has some backing among supporters who praise the company for keeping water rates low.

The state charges Nestle a whopping $200 dollars for the 130,000,000 gallons of water, who's the dumb ass who signed off on this goat screw? But I digress, this is not out of the ordinary, other states are getting the shaft as well. Some back room deals going on here, but with the Corpocrasy we live in- the voter only matters 8 months before the election.

Much of the anger in Osceola Township, that voted heavily for President Donald Trump in the 2016 US election, is due to a sense the town is being exploited by a powerful multinational blinded by profit.
AFP / Steven M. Herppich Demand for bottled water, such as these stacks at Nestle's facility in Stanwood, Michigan, is rising

Nestle pays just $200 a year to the state of Michigan to pump more than 130 million gallons (590 million liters) of water.

Other US states have struck similar arrangements with big companies, authorizing them to pump as much water as they wish for a pittance as long as they build the infrastructure themselves. This includes the beverage giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which sell water under the Dasani and Aquafina bra

Back room deals sounds spot on, Seasonal. What a disgrace. Whoever the City Council members were that let that happen need to be investigated or at least run out of town.

boycott all Nestle products

adding it to my list

Bank of America
Amazon
AT&T
Any cable companies
Sports
the UFC
I'm forgetting a few

a reply to: The GUT

I don't know who is responsible for signing or offering this. But what kinds of idiot allows this? It is akin to strip mining.

Again, don't have a clue to who signed off on this and I don't want to dig, feeling lazy and I want to just do some self important effortless bitching from my high horse tonight.

Perhaps if we all tweet this to Trump he will do something. Perhaps.

All cities , counties , States put extras out on the table to lure companies in. Water is one key , tax cuts , lower price on the land...etc. They have to be competitive with other considered locales.
Once signed , it is a legally binding contract .
So , who is at fault ? The companies or the locale ? Neither or both ?

a reply to: seasonal

Totally nuts. How much friggin chlorine was that guy drinking when it ok'd that?

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
a reply to: seasonal

Totally nuts. How much friggin chlorine was that guy drinking when it ok'd that?

Perhaps there was some illegal drugs being consumed, some ladies of the night and wild weekend at a Holiday Inn all corporate sponsored?

How's the spin they put on their creek water product,

Ice Mountain® Brand 100% Natural Spring Water is sourced only from carefully selected springs, and contains naturally occurring minerals for a crisp, clean taste.

www.icemountainwater.com...
BE ASSURED!

a reply to: seasonal

Yeah sounds about right for a scumbucket lifestyle.

I despise Nestle..water pimps, the same fight more or less has been going on here, they don't play by the rules.
Also shame on our local govt's for selling our resource for pretty much a negative benefit.
Nestle can suck it, suck it hard.

200 bucks for that, eh? If people sniff around hard enough, I guarantee there's a major kickback being hidden somewhere. Somebody, somewhere in that town's government, made a deal with the devil and is raking it in in some form or another.

Question is, was their "payment" actual cash, or something else such as stocks? And if stocks are indeed the payoff, one must question which partnered companies they have them in. Nestle has many partnerships with other companies.

a reply to: vonclod

Nestle CEO: Water Is Not A Human Right, Should Be Privatized

They're scumbags to the core and the numbnuts who agreed to that deal should be fired and asap.

5 short years ago the chairman of Nestle said " water is not a human right."

Whomever signed these back room deals should be drug out into the street and beheaded.

What do you call treason when it's against the human race instead of a country?

originally posted by: abe froman
What do you call treason when it's against the human race instead of a country?

Betrayal.

Backroom deals? Well sure.
But more common than that is the corporation threatening to take away jobs from the community. The old bow to us or we will shut down the plant. Cut us a deal or off we go to some other little town and take those jobs with us.
In a community that heavily favored Trump it is not surprising that the citizenry would elect representatives who are pro-business at any cost.

originally posted by: abe froman
5 short years ago the chairman of Nestle said " water is not a human right."

Whomever signed these back room deals should be drug out into the street and beheaded.

What do you call treason when it's against the human race instead of a country?

yup ive been livid over the water rights companies have and the pennies they pay for huge amounts of water. i live in california where they keep trying to punish the people for their inept policies towards our water and knowing how much is consumed by these plants and how little they pay drives me nuts. i know one of the plants near me was paying something like 22 cents for every 120,000 gallons of water they got straight from the tap. meanwhile the residents were being fined for washing their car in their own driveway.

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
Backroom deals? Well sure.
But more common than that is the corporation threatening to take away jobs from the community. The old bow to us or we will shut down the plant. Cut us a deal or off we go to some other little town and take those jobs with us.
In a community that heavily favored Trump it is not surprising that the citizenry would elect representatives who are pro-business at any cost.

Did you read the story? Trump supporters are actually against corporate exploitation.

Much of the anger in Osceola Township, that voted heavily for President Donald Trump in the 2016 US election, is due to a sense the town is being exploited by a powerful multinational blinded by profit.

im curious does anyone know how the CRV tax works for bottled water in california? how much does the city or state get per bottle of water sold. i can see why they would only charge so much if they knew they were going to reap a massive tax windfall yearly from it. again not what our govt is supposed to be doing since its exploiting the people they are supposed to represent.

a reply to: seasonal

Did you read the story?

Yes, I did. What I did not do was fall in line with blaming some small town schmo who was either elected to public office or not held accountable by city officials who were.

Trump supporters are actually against corporate exploitation.

So they say. However, rather than placing all the blame on some ''city official'' taking kick backs we might rather look at other contexts for how this cheap water is being stolen by a large corporation.How is it that these citizens have not voted in officials who will protect them from this kind of corporate over-reach.That is the question I have to ask.
If they were smart enough to vote for Trump, how is it that they are not smart enough to vote for local officials who will stand up for their own local community?

Other than my mention of Trump, do you not find that my observation of local jobs and the way corporations blackmail town councils and citizens is a valid consideration?