There has been discussion and concern raised regarding Nestlé Waters’ reputation in other communities around the country. An interoffice memorandum from the City of Black Diamond, Washington, where Nestlé Waters was recently considering locating, suggests that Nestlé Waters has been a good neighbor in other communities.
The Memorandum was written by the City’s Economic Development Director to the Mayor and Council Members in response to their direction to research how Nestle Waters has impacted towns and cities in which they have located bottling sites.
Essentially, Black diamond developed a questionnaire that was sent to government agencies – including agencies in Michigan, Florida, California and Maine. Although the Chaffee County Project does not involve a bottling facility, the questionnaire includes relevant inquires regarding Nestlé’s resource stewardship, community involvement, truck traffic, response to complaints, and agency concerns with water supply. Perhaps this helps to provide a more rounded understanding of these community relationships, and whether or not Nestlé is a good neighbor.
You may also download the memorandum in its entirety (118 pages), which includes the excerpts followed by detailed city profile information.
Sincerely,
Bruce Lauerman
Unfortunately I couldn’t download the memorandum.
To All, This issue should have gone to State Water Court first before going through the expense of the County. When the County could be doing other Community gatherings to see what the Citizen really want as Sustainable Bussnises as partners. No need to spend $20,000 for a Economical Developement Agency which will Always want more money plus a cut. The wsork the Citizens come and do on this as volunteers is priceless. Namaste, Carlo
@Vicki. We double-checked the links for both files. The first file is 2MB. The second file is 68.0 MB and takes a while (15 minutes on a relatively fast connection) to download.
A lot of people still don’t know that these Springs has the potenial of drying up the groung water at the 1,200 acres owned by the State of Colorado and This is Something the Whole State has a voice on. Please read the Book Thirst and how Nestle Dryed other Communities. Also check out the land mass of the drougt on the East Coast of Austraila. Plus there are to many issues on this 1041. It should only be on the purchase property of Nestle. Not the pipeline,Not the Ruby Springs and not the loading dock and Not the method of transportation. If it wasn’t for a small handful of people and the Orgization of the Chaffee Citizens For Sustainibility this would have been a done deal March 18th and we would have never had a Public meeting in Buena Vista. The Scope of this project is too large for the Board of Commissioneers and should be a ballot issue for the whole State Of Colorado since what ever the dission is well set presidence in the State of Colorado because the existing laws were not written for the purpose of Bottleing water. Namasta Carlo
Welcome to Nestle’s Wide World of Whitewash.
There are several issues with this memo that require some response – including the shocking fact that it even includes a hearty “Nestle’s OK” from Mecosta County, where Nestle lost two court cases over the damage they were doing to a Mecosta watershed.
Nestle finally agreed to halve their pumping in Mecosta only after the judge lost his patience and issued an injunction, and Nestle’s response to losing the suit was to challenge the right of Michigan’s citizens to protect their environment.
How does that translate to a good corporate neighbor? It’s not an issue that’s addressed in the memo – and a shocking omission that truly casts the responses into doubt.
I’d love to make a couple other points.
1. Only six towns responded, only one of which is commonly cited among those as having problems with Nestle. That’s odd. Was the list of towns to contact originally provided to Black Diamond by Nestle’s representative?
2. Every town responding hosted a water bottling plant, so at least jobs were in play – which is not the case in Chaffee County. Would the respondents have felt as positive if there were no jobs, only extractions and truck traffic?
3. In many cases, Nestle’s “support” for the community was limited to offering “free” bottled water, which means the company bottled the town’s own water and then handed it back to residents, which somehow doesn’t strike me as the support residents of Chaffee County are looking for.
4. Were towns like Fryeburg (ME), Guelph (Canada), McCloud (CA), Napa (CA) and others even contacted?
In truth, this memorandum is largely irrelevant; the communities where Nestle has repeatedly used extreme legal measures to intimidate opponents and accomplish their business goals aren’t represented.
Those wishing to read four stories of people in communities adversely affected by Nestle should spend a minute reading this article, which – in the community’s own words – offers a much different picture of Nestle’s activities..
What happens on this Nestle Project if it goes through will Start More “Privitation of Water. Then Start The Process For John Coggswell to Start the “Privatation of Water On Cottonwood Meadows then start a hug Develoment on this little street of Crossman In B. V. Apex Corperation the Local P.R. for Nestle is the Same Outfit that Ran the Campaign For the Cottonwood Meadows that lost the election to Build in the town of B. V. . So The line of Questioning for Terry Scanga By John Coggswell on April 29th was to rebuff him as an attorney and a developer. The Cootonwood Meadows would have the Same Impact on the Community with Traffic and Water and create a larger Human Carbon footprint when we are trying to reign it in. Namaste, Carlo The water on the Arkansas water has been over sold on Paper. We need to save for a Droughty day, Ciao!*******