From George Weeks, longtime columnist...
While the modified order reached by agreement reduces Nestle's
originally intended water removal by about 50 percent from what the
state had permitted, the company was relieved that the binding
settlement gets those pesky citizen water warriors off its back.
Which raises the question of why "the state" had permitted a withdrawal twice what Nestle is getting as a result of citizen action.
Noah Hall's Friday blog post about the Congressional hearing chaired by Congressman Bart Stupak on the issue of bottled water safety and marketing is thoughtful, as usual. But that doesn't mean I don't vigorously disagree with his fundamental point.
On one level, he's right: "the real problem is that our rivers, lakes, and groundwater are still severely polluted with chemicals that can kill us, despite decades of knowing about the problem and debating laws and policies to fix it." Sure, let's keep pushing for a chemical/pollution policy that keeps these toxins out of our drinking water sources. On that public health and environmental advocates can strongly agree.
But there was something new in the Stupak hearing: a conscious effort to ridicule the pathetic fraud that is bottled water. Arrogantly and falsely marketed as a healthy choice when compared to tap water, bottled water is also a symptom of a much bigger problem.
The idea that private parties can mine public waters and sell them for profit -- and adding insult to injury, without paying a dime to the public to whom said waters belong -- is new, too. At least in the statutes of the Great Lakes states and Congress. Bottled water itself goes back a century or more, but explicit state recognition, authorization and condoning of this mining in the modern age of freshwater scarcity reaches only back to 2006. Michigan led the way with a law distinguishing exports of Great Lakes water in pipelines and aqueducts from exports of Great Lakes water in a million bottles. All eight Great Lakes states compounded the mistake by passing Great Lakes Compact legislation that, when ratified by Congress last fall, created a national legal status for water as a product through the plain act of extracting it, packaging it, and intending it for consumers.
I've watched this issue unfold for the last decade and I am amazed that the mainstream environmental world has failed to grasp, or act on its significance. There are some good reasons for this: there are plenty of other important threats and problems these advocates must face. But let's stop the charade that selling public waters is something we can't fight, or that it's just another water use. At least Congressman Stupak is pointing out the 'industry' is a marketing scam, and suggesting that this says deeper things about its legitimacy.
"The multi-billion dollar bottled water industry, which has major operations in Michigan, has gone to great lengths to market its product as clean, healthy and superior to other water. But at a congressional hearing led by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Menominee earlier this week, a representative for the Government Accountability Office confirmed what water activists have been saying for years: Bottled water has less oversight than water from municipal systems."
Michigan Messenger piece here.
Not to press the point until it's lame, but is anyone independent of the agencies who may get a share of the $475 million in proposed federal Great Lakes restoration money taking a look at the 100-plus pieces of the baking pie?
Thanks to U.S. Senator Carl Levin for trying -- but decades after voracious Asian carp were intentionally imported, and a decade after their movement toward the Great Lakes was noted, an import ban will be limited in effect.
It's not the Senator's fault; he's been trying for years, and so have Great Lakes fisheries agencies. But the will in Washington overall has been weak.
In case you missed this June 29 story from The Environment Report:
This scum is called
cyanobacteria. For years, scientists have known that this stuff can
produce dangerous toxins. Amy Quinton reports now researchers are
studying whether there’s a link between cyanobacteria and Lou Gehrig’s
disease.
This is worth following, as zebra and quagga mussels in the Great Lakes states appear to be contributing to an increase in this hazard.
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak, who chaired the hearing, was on multiple TV morning shows discussing the topic. Here's a Reuters story. More to come.
Will this year be any different from the preceding 20 in Congressional action to curb invasive species in ballast water? One hopes so. But the shipping industry, ports community and Coast Guard still overpower a massive but diluted coalition of anglers and enviros.
Zebra mussels fouling the Great Lakes and 18-foot-long Burmese pythons
stalking the Florida Everglades dominated a Senate hearing room today
as officials from Michigan and other states sought tougher federal
rules on invasive species.
Rest of story here.
Thank you, Andy Hogarth.
