Protesters rally against proposed water bottling plant in Gorge
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Demonstrators rallied at Terry Schrunk Plaza Tuesday afternoon against a proposed water bottling plant in the Columbia River Gorge.
The proposed facility is in Cascade locks. It would tap water from a spring now used by an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife salmon and steelhead hatchery.
Protesters say they don't want water to be used for corporate profit. They've been fighting this for several years already.
They expect potentially hundreds of people at the rally as well as several speakers, including a woman who says she fought Nestle in her town in Michigan.
Organizers locally are led by a coalition called Keep Nestle Out of the Gorge. They are now calling on Gov. John Kitzhaber to put a stop to the proposed water bottling facility.
"Basically this time around he's heard from 30,000 Oregonians, and we've tried to meet with the governor and clearly it's time to show him that not taking a stance on this issue is really not an option and that's why we're ramping up the campaign by having actions like this," said Julia DeGraw with Food and Water Watch. "If you look at the potential damages that this water bottling facility could cause and even potential damage to the community's water source, we feel that's not a fair trade for the community or for Oregon. There are better jobs to be had."
Over a hundred protesters had gathered in the downtown Portland park. The demonstrators say they plan more rallies around the state.
In a statement, the president of the Port of Cascade Locks Board of Commissioners, Jess Groves, said, "We are deeply cautious of these outside groups who have decided to use our hometown to forward their national agendas. These groups rarely understand our town's economic needs or our long-standing commitment to water and environmental stewardship. The proposed Nestlé waters plant, at full build out, would provide up to 50 new, well-paying jobs in cascade locks, which would add significantly to our employment base."
Some big concerns for just the town are as follows: 210 truck trips thru our downtown a day (that's an average, their peak season coincides with our tourism season and does not count their employees or suppliers) Works out to one every 6 or 7 minutes and thatâs 24/7. The damage and safety issues caused by those trucks to both our infrastructure and the tourism. Another (partial route) has been suggested, but requires bringing a frontage road up to grade to handle both the weight of those trucks and a left-hand turn lane at state taxpayer's expense. 2) The lack of knowledge regarding the extent of the aquifer that our Dry Creek based wells tap into for town water and the possibility that a draw down could occur, infiltrating the aquifer with Columbia River water. If this happens, we will be obligated to pump water for our townsfolk, the Ox-Bow Springs and the Nestle Plant and Nestle wants to just sign a memorandum of agreement, not a contract, plus, when previously faced with a request to stop or reduce their pumping capacity, they did not. That is why they only want to be a customer of Cascade Locks, no one can then ask them to stop using water without asking everyone to stop using water. 3) Only 48 jobs will be available, none can be saved for the citizens and may well be people commuting from other towns, we cannot add to our tax base. No way to require said employees to have families, so we cannot re-open our closed High School. 4) This building of this one facility will kick our electrical rates into a new rate hike to handle what Bonneville calls Tier 2 rate structure, and we will need to buy a substation from them. We currently pay one of the highest rates in the area . The pumps for the well will have to be upgraded. We take most of the hits, but do not have ways to tax or protect our town.
 @DatesCetaceans ^^^^ Now THAT'S some research!  ^^^^ :)
how about instead of watching this very vague news clip on katu news, watch this http://youtu.be/Mt2D1T_CvJ8Â
No one wants to deny the people of Cascade Locks jobs, especially not Governor Kitzhaber. In fact, his $2 billion dollar federal funding for health care transformation in Oregon should assure jobs, according to his Assistant Health Policy Adviser Sean Kolmer at a Kaiser Permanente Community Fund breakfast panel on May 21st (http://resourcesforhealth.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/the-governors-commitment-to-health-equals-a-commitment-to-the-environment/). The systemâs shift in focus from delivery of health care to delivery of health should itself create job growth as a new work force develops to fill the void, with thriving opportunities for employment expected. By making an economic investment to change the focus from health care to health, the Governorâs plan should create employment opportunities in the process. Whether the issue is water or logging, the health of the environment is not separate from the health of the people. Oregon health care professionals and health care consumers alike should demand accountability from our Governor that his rhetoric, actions, and spending priorities all support citizens' health. Or show me a Health Impact Assessment that demonstrates the long-term benefit of Nestle's bottling plant to Cascade Locks residents' overall well-being. And back it up with an Environmental Impact Assessment that demonstrates how Nestle's bottling plant will do more overall good than harm.
@Annee von Borg, MSW, MPH Drank deep of the cool-aide didn't ya ? Just how much do you get to lay out this level of BS. But let's expand on this: Hospitals in the mid valley area are laying of both general staff and highly skilled nursing staff, closing units and decreasing services due to decreaased state and federal reimbursement. The new CCO model that Kitz is replacing his last failed brian child OHP is another restricted care model, IMHO just like Kaiser. The health care system is there to provide healthcare health is an outcome to treatment of disease or trauma as it related to the healthcare system. Health is a state of being that is from the interaction of lifestyle, genetics, environment, access to healthcare, and availability of options. The fact that Kitz has 2 billion public dollars to whiz away on his latest great delusion no more will assure the "delivery of health" than access to pixie dust will. As to the Bottling plant specifically the income from the jobs created and the wealth it creates will inhance the access to care, choice and improvement of their environment that will contibute to the communities overall "health. As to the environmental impact of a bottling plant for water it's a flipping bottling plant, water in, bottled water out. Not nearly as potnetially polluting as the myriad of breweries, craft distilleries and wineries that operate around the state nor as toxic a product. (and no I don't oppose those either I am an enthusiatic supported of them, and their crafts)
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The spring they want to tap into is used for a fish hatchery. It provides the cold water needed for proper development. It also provides pockets of cold water along the Columbia for the fish in there to kinda "recover" and rest in. Since the river water is well above it's natural temperature due to all the dams. Nestle says it will provide water the the hatchery, but nestle has proven it's self untrust-worthy and unethical in the other areas it has tapped into. Please don't make all your decisions based from a minute and a half news clip for a rally that lasted approximately 2 hours with several speakers. Do some research and start talking to people. Also this could just be the start of things to come, the more we let nestle (and other greedy corporations) win and get everything they want, next thing you know, ALL of our potable water will have to come from some corporation. 50 jobs is nothing compared to the foreseen damage that will surely follow in the future. If anything, locals should bottle it and control it, and use the profits for schools and the other necessities WE need. I assure you Nestle will not keep your best interests in mind.
What kind of damage could this plant cause? I doubt the feds would allow any degradation of the salmon hatchery.
 @Bongo You'd think so, but we've been proven wrong before.
The dumbest thing about this is that the bottler will just be another customer like everyone else.
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So if I chose to take my tap water and bottle it, people would have a fit?
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The only difference is they are taking ti from the source rather than from the tap. They are paying the same rate (likely more) and have to meet EPA requirements for safety. Water IS a commodity.
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Places that don't have it need it. And places that do should be able to profit from it. !
 @Repoman Nestle will see those profits, I doubt the community ever will. :(
 @Repoman I think you should watch "TAPPED"  everyone should. And "FLOW" they are on Netflix.
 @Repoman I think if you did some research on the Nestle Corporation, you might change your mind here. If you let one in, more will follow.Â
 @Repoman Portland charge me for water. Not the infrastructure but the amount of water I use.
Occupy and destroy a couple of parks to complain that the 1% isn't doing enough. Then, when a large corporation wants to bring in jobs complain that they are evil and shouldn't be allowed. What do these people want?
 @Just_a_guy whats best for the 99% and the earth. They do have many personalities and thats why they always get together and discuss everyones ideas. Many heads and many ideas can create get solutions. You should share your ideas as well.
*Great solutions
 @Just_a_guy Very good point. They have multiple personalities and it just depends which one is controlling them that day.
Build it.
 @theobserver No!
What part of "new, high paying jobs" don't they understand?
 @shek069 "What part of "new, high paying jobs" don't they understand?"
My problem is whose mouth that statement comes from? The Nestle PR machine? They have such a great track record of telling the truth. They are not publicly traded and therefore never have to disclose how many employees they even have at each plant let alone what the salaries are. In many places, the jobs are temp jobs with no job security or benefits. Temp jobs vs. Permanent damage to a stream and watershed. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
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 @shek069 Because they are 1) not high paying jobs, 2) not saved for the town, and 3) 48 jobs ain't nothing compared to the damage to the tourism, streets and other infrastructure of the town
 @shek069 The Nestle Company will bottle this water and sell it overseas. What part of "stealing our water" do you not understand?
 @shek069 The "jobs" part. Work is anathema to them.
Libtards...stop your protesting and support living wage jobs...what harm is Nestle going to cause other than paying families a living wage...stupid, stupid, stupid!!!
 @TD97058 Stop insulting folks and realize that they will also cause tourism damage to the town, street modifications and highway damage that state taxpayers are going to be footing the costs on.
 @TD97058 Watch "TAPPED" and "FLOW" and do some dang research.
"You control the water, you control the people."
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Classic lesson from Rango. Making water a commodity is wrong. They're using a water source that could just be used to provide the residents with access to clean water. Then again the government just puts fluoride in the water. I'm sure Nestle does too. By the way, what business does a chocolate company have with bottling water? I don't like that mix. They probably will put fluoride in their water too. Too bad it's all covered with words like "job creation", so people don't dare criticize it, and people that do are insulted and barraged by anonymous faces on the message boards.Â
I sincerely hope all who protest are not so poorly informed. Why on earth would anyone assume that Nestle would put fluoride in bottled water? No other producer of bottled water does. Oh, and it would have to be indicated on the label if they did. Really, what it it to anyone what other products a company may make. Guess Nestle tea comes springing out of the ground already brewed. Why is bottling and selling water wrong? People buy all manner of bottled water products. Oh, I see. It should be produced in Mississippi where it can be taken out of the river and must be extensively treated (using energy to do the treating) and then trucked to the Pacific Northwest (using a great deal of fuel). Don't produce it locally in the northwest for consumption in the northwest.  Protesting with reason and logic is much more effective.
 @Nobody are you one of those anonymous posters who work for Nestle, cause your comment is just tooo white bread to be believed.
At what point will we start to segregate and secede from the union? It is just getting too ridiculous all this crap. Jobs are hard to come by but heaven forbid a company try to expand and create jobs. Morons...
If it was a brewery using all this water, would these people be complaining...? I think not.
We need jobs. Â Stop keep your socialist occupy protest mentality in Ptown and out of Cascade Locks.
 @Hellbilly The problem with your attempt-to-insult is that the water belongs to the state, not to Cascade Locks
 @Hellbilly The problem with your attempt-to-insult is that the water belongs to the state, not to Cascade Locks
Nestle should check out the Tualatin River for a thicker chocolate like water. Probably more nutrient density than the spring in the Gorge. They can even have my marketing idea for free.
Ahh yes more reasons businesses do not come to Oregon.These same protesters are probably Oregon Trail users also. Protest jobs and opportunity coming in,what a bunch of losers.
Please educate yourselves further on this subject. Research the impact Nestle has had on other local communities and water sources. Please do not shrug this off in a partisan manner and just call people a bunch of liberals or environmentalists with nothing better to do. Could be enlightening to check out the documentaries Tapped or Flow.
 @Platebrd Great post, thanks!
 @Platebrd Just exactly how will Nestle impact the Columbia River as a water source?  Their siphoning off of it would be a drop in the bucket considering how much water flows down that river.  The problem with the documentaries that you reference is that they're usually bias in favor of just one side of the argument, the side that the filmmaker believes in.
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The environmentalists, the activists, they tell us that we can't use our water for power, for commerce, then what is it there for? Â They need to understand, and understand quickly that it's not just their, it's all of ours. Â The majority doesn't agree with you. Â
 @pdxtvguy I believe the story said the water source is a spring, not the Columbia River. For all we know, the KATU facts are wrong as well. I appreciate you calling on me on my comment to think and research this more. That is all my original comment was intending. For us all to do some fact finding and not digress into name calling, I merely mentioned the couple documentaries as some form of insight. I would be open other sources that you know of that discuss the water industry and Nestle. Just about every documentary will have bias as you mentioned, however even the ones that I see that differ from my opinion, I take in ideas and gain perspective whether I agree with them or not. I take them for what they are worth, but generally the can shed some light on a subject and generate further research. I do not plan to get  involved in a back and forth online. I surely can understand the jobs issue as well, very valid point, but IMO it is just one aspect of all things that should be considered in a process such as this. I realize this may not be what the majority agrees with, but I am fine with that, really what a discussion is all about. Too long of a response, I know. Enjoy your day.
It's not a partisan issue...it's a survival issue. For the last 30 years, the environmentalists have used the court systems to rip Oregon's economy to shreds, and they've devastated thousands of jobs. What would you do, if small group of mis-informed idiots, ripped your very existance out from under you..???
 @Maximus since 1997 nestle has been sued for such things as supporting child slavery and the milk formula with  melamine from china where they made millions.
Then they lied and fought china about how many kids died and we are talking china you know the ones who don't give a gang about poison in products.
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And you just get your info from mainstream media. Good luck with that.
@onceagain @cptmac11 @Maximus You sound like a huge supporter of China, especially if you're suggesting that all criticism of them must come from liberals.
 @cptmac11  @Maximus Whine whine whine, and you get your information where, some liberal rag maybe.
 @Maximus You are correct, and I would bet most of the protesters could not even find Cascade locks on a map.
Not a stranger to hyperbole are you.
 Obama voters, while living off the taxpayers, protesting the idea of actually working for a living.Â
Just more left wingers against jobs. 0bama wold be proud.
"Protesters say they don't want water to be used for corporate profit"
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One of the DUMBEST comments ever ..... How many protestors' Â have jobs or would like a JOB ?
 @bat54 MANY ACTUALLY, and then OCCUPY also becomes a JOB. so all their "free" time is spent researching the things that they think are important for this earth and the future earth and the people, including even you. They are some of the busiest people I know. YOU should do more research on what they are protesting before you say something is dumb. Start asking questions rather than dissing on the people. THAT IS DUMB.Â
@bat54 Are you suggesting that one must work for corporations or government to have a job? So much for private enterprise, eh?
 @cgattman  @bat54 Isn't a "corporation" private enterprise? Did I miss something? Besides my retirement IRA depends on corporations making a profit. Our entire nation depends on corporations making a profit. No profit, no taxes, no roads, no police. But I guess that is what the anarchists are hoping for.
 @cgattman  @bat54 Private enterprise doesn't do what they do for profit?  To pay their employees?