Letter to Ken Salazar Regarding Nestle
The following is a letter received by the Voice which was sent to Ken Salazar from a local resident and member of Chaffee Citizens for Sustainability:
DATE: SEPTEMBER 6, 2009
TO: SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
MR. KEN SALAZAR
Dear Ken,
Hello, from an old neighbor and friend of the family. I’m writing because I’ve become interested in the recent authorization by Chaffee County Commissioners to allow Nestle Corporation to mine water here in Chaffee County which would then be transported to Nestles’ new water bottling plant in Denver. I have asked ______ if she could forward this email to you as it is my hopes that you are aware of this important issue affecting the entire State of Colorado and the ever on-going water issues we face throughout Colorado and the nation! I just want to make sure this is brought to your attention because of your interest in the welfare of Colorado and its’ resources. I have forwarded this letter to U.S. Representative, John Salazar as well.
Following is a brief commentary as to the current status of events:
Nestle Corporation filed application for permits in December, 2008 in Chaffee County
Final permits are being approved by Chaffee County Commissioners as I write this.
Nestle has built a new 2-system Water Bottling Plant in Denver. One line is bottling filtered municipal water, the other line reserved for bottling Chaffee County water.
Nestle is leasing a consumptive water right from Aurora. Aurora will release water from Twin Lakes to augment the water Nestle withdraws from an aquifer near Nathrop.
Nestle plans are to extract 65 million gallons of water / 200 acre feet to be trucked to Denver at the rate of 25 round trips per day
Primary Concerns:
Defining beneficial use of water vs. commoditization for corporate profit is very questionable in the light that water in Colorado is “public” and to be “used in a beneficial way”.
NAFTA regulations recognize commodities and that to set a precedent of water mining for corporate profit, separating property from water, extracting water to be clearly used to create a “water product” sets the stage throughout Colorado and the Nation for other multi-national, high profile companies to follow suit and would likely be irreversible once the precedent is set.
The buying up of water rights is a crucial issue as well as an environmental and health issue.
Things to consider are: environmental and health impacts at site of extraction and at the site of bottling plants; extreme toxins in plastic bottled drinking water, lack of adequate regulation of bottled water for health and safety, impact on high desert regions, lack of consideration of global climate changes, plastic pollution across the globe and in our oceans with leaching of toxic chemicals and the general idea of taking public water for profit and selling it back to the public at phenomenal profits.
While some of the water will be resold to the State, the majority of the “public’s water” will be shipped and sold outside of the State, resulting in huge profits for Nestle with no compensation to the public. With the scarcity of water, can we afford this? How can it be legal?
Ken, much research has already been done that further details the serious impacts that this industry creates on our health, environment and resources. I’ve attached Justice Hobbs Water Law Review from 1997. It is critically important to address this issue immediately because of the grave concern that if Nestle is allowed to mine water in Chaffee County for “product” under NAFTA regulations; this could clearly be setting a precedent for future mining of water here in Colorado and across the nation that would likely be irreversible.
Please give some consideration to the issues above and if I can provide any further information, I’d be happy to. The organization that is leading the way on community education and awareness about this issue is Chaffee Citizens For Sustainability:
John Graham, President of CCFS
(719) 239-0772
CCFS.john@gmail.com
www.CCFSustainability.org
Thank you for taking your valuable time to read this.
Best regards,
