Hood River County ballot initiative seeks to block Nestle water bottling plant 1 /

A group of activists in Hood River County has filed a ballot initiative aimed at stopping the Nestle corporation from bottling and selling water from a spring in the Columbia River Gorge.

The initiative, filed earlier this month, would ban commercial bottled water operations in the county, where Nestle for years has pursued the prospect of bottling Oxbow Springs water. Sponsors must gather signatures from 664 county residents to get it on the ballot.

The Cascade Locks City Council has approved the plan, but the deal requires the state's consent because the city doesn't own water rights at the spring.

The city and the company are halfway through the process of obtaining consent. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has agreed to trade a portion of its water right at Oxbow Springs to Cascade Locks in exchange for an equal portion of the city's municipal supply.

Cascade Locks would then sell the spring water to Nestle as a municipal water customer. The company is expected to get a discount from the rate Cascade Locks residents pay.

The swap can only happen with the Oregon Water Resources Department's approval. Water department staff are reviewing the proposal before making a decision.

As word of Nestle's plans spread throughout the state, a local opposition movement has joined the environmentalist-led fight to stop the company's plans.

The group known as Local Water Alliance has staged rallies, sent letters to the governor and quizzed local leaders about how the deal would affect Cascade Locks' water security.

They've gained allies in the tribes. Leaders of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs questioned the deal in a letter to Kate Brown, and tribe members have staged rallies and a hunger strike in protest of Nestle.

Because the water resources department cannot consider public interests when deciding whether to allow Nestle's plan to move forward, it's unlikely the company's opponents could stop the plan through state-level action.

Enter the "Hood River Water Protection Measure." Proponents of the county ballot measure believe it to be the first of its kind in the nation. Citing the drought that has forced Hood River County into a state of emergency, the measure's backers say they're unconvinced Nestle's plans for Oxbow Springs would not harm the watershed.

"When your county is facing record drought conditions, the idea of sending millions of gallons of water a year out of the county in mountains of plastic piled on the back of trucks seems particularly irresponsible," says Ed del Val, president of the Local Water Alliance and a chief petitioner for the measure.

The story will be updated.

-- Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/environmen...sure_seek.html


"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed that is the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead, Anthropologist