G REATER G ORGE
A2 Hood River News,
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
www.hoodrivernews.com
Anti-Nestlé protestors decry state’s
role in proposed bottled water plant
By KELLY HOUSE
The Oregonian/OregonLive, staff
Editor’s note: This AP story
was originally published
April 16 in The Oregonian.
Rush hour across the
Hawthorne Bridge Thurs-
day morning was an unusu-
ally rowdy affair.
Along with the motorists,
bicyclists and pedestrians
making their way toward
Downtown Portland, about
150 demonstrators gathered
at the bridge’s eastern ap-
proach to decry the state’s
plan to let Nestlé bottle and
sell
water
from
a
C o l u m b i a R ive r G o r g e
spring.
T h e p ro t e s t o r s s t o o d ,
waving “No to Nestlé“ signs
and chanting “Gov. Brown,
don’t let us down!” while
passing commuters honked
their horns in support, or
breezed by without batting
an eye.
T he protest signals a
backlash to the Oregon De-
partment of Fish and
Wi l d l i f e ’s d e c i s i o n l a s t
week to proceed with a plan
to speed up the permitting
process for a Nestlé bottled
water plant in Cascade
Locks while cutting public
interest out of the equation.
The world’s largest food
and beverage company has
been eyeing the 1,148-per-
son town since 2008 as a
p r i m e s i t e fo r i t s f i r s t
Northwest bottling plant.
Nestlé has other spring
water plants throughout the
nation, including several in
California.
Nestlé‘s plan in Cascade
Locks hinges upon the
state’s cooperation. The fish
and wildlife department
owns water rights at Oxbow
S p r i n g s, wh i c h N e s t l é
wants to tap for its Arrow-
head spring water brand.
Nestlé has a tentative agree-
ment with the Cascade
Locks city leadership to
build a $50 million bottling
plant in the town, employ-
ing up to 50 people and
nearly doubling the city’s
property tax revenue.
For the deal to work, the
city must gain access to
Oxbow Springs, and then
sell the water to Nestlé as a
municipal utility customer.
Initially, city and state
leaders planned to accom-
plish that task by trading
water gallon-for-gallon. The
state would give Cascade
Locks 0.5 cubic feet per sec-
ond of spring water in ex-
change for an equal amount
of city well water. Under
that plan, state regulators
tasked with approving or
denying the trade have been
required to consider the
trade’s impact on the pub-
lic.
T rading water rights,
however, requires no public
interest review and is ex-
pected to take less time.
Protestors at Thursday’s
demonstration argue the
city and state’s decision to
pursue that route amounts
to an attempt to silence op-
position.
“The idea that they’re
going to sell the state’s
water is ridiculous,” said
Brook Kirklin, 52, of Port-
land. “It doesn’t belong to
them - it belongs to us.”
Demonstrators’ reasons
for opposing the plant are
myriad.
Some
argue
Nestlé‘s plan in Cascade
Locks amounts to privatiza-
tion of a public resource.
Others worry about the en-
vironmental impacts of all
those plastic bottles and the
fossil fuels needed to ship
them to the store. Some sim-
ply scoff at the idea of sell-
ing water for hundreds of
times the amount it costs to
draw from the tap.
Recently, the company
has come under intense
scrutiny in California for
failing to curb its water use
despite a severe drought
that has residents through-
out the state scaling back.
The U.S. Forest Service is
also reviewing the compa-
ny’s practices in the San
Bernardino National For-
est, where it has continued
to pump water even though
its permit to transport it
across the forest expired
years ago.
Photo by Kelly House, The Oregonian/OregonLive, staff
ANTI-NESTLÉ PROTESTORS gathered in downtown Portland to
protest the proposed bottled water plant in Cascade Locks.
Cascade Locks resident
Kathy Tittle, who joined
Thursday’s demonstration,
said she worries a Nestlé
plant in Cascade Locks
would cause the same prob-
lems in Oregon.
“I’m screaming from the
rooftops that I don’t want
that here,” Tittle said.
Nestlé supporters say a
bottling plant would bring
badly needed jobs to Cas-
cade Locks, while capitaliz-
ing on a readily available
resource.
Invasive mussels found on boat at Ontario
ONTARIO, Ore. – Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife technicians discov-
ered Zebra mussels on a
boat at the Ontario boat in-
spection station Friday. The
boat being hauled from
Lake Erie in Ohio is the
first vessel of the 2015 in-
spection season found to be
infested with the invasive
mussels.
The commercial driver
hauling the Ohio watercraft
pulled in for inspection.
Motorists hauling boats in
Oregon are required to stop
at inspection stations to
h ave t h e i r w a t e r c r a f t
checked for aquatic inva-
sive species under a 2011
Oregon law. Failure to stop
at an inspection station
could result in a $110 fine.
The boat had a moderate
number of adult Zebra mus-
sels around the propeller
shaft and under the stern in
the drain plug area. It was
decontaminated at the in-
spection station with high-
pressure and hot water.
“The driver did the right
thing by pulling over to
have the boat inspected.
Boat owners need to always
practice ‘Clean, Drain, Dry’
before launching their boat
to keep invasive mussels
and other aquatic invasive
species out of Oregon and
the Pacific Northwest,” said
Rick Boatner, ODFW Inva-
sive Species Coordinator.
“Zebra and Quagga mussels
have caused billions in eco-
nomic damage around the
U.S. and we don’t want to
have the same kinds of
problems they create here
in the Pacific Northwest.”
According to the Colum-
bia Basin Bulletin, the Pa-
cific Northwest, including
Alaska and the Canadian
provinces of British Colum-
bia and Alberta, is the “only
place on the continent” un-
affected by the Zebra and
Quagga mussel invasions
that have devastated ecosys-
tems and local economies.
The U.S. Geological Survey
has a Quagga and Zebra
mussel distribution map on
its website. Their highest
concentration is in the
great lakes of North Ameri-
ca.
The last time ODFW
found invasive mussels at
the Ontario station was
May 20, 2014, when techni-
cians discovered Quagga
mussels on a pontoon
houseboat.
In addition to Quagga
and Zebra mussels, inspec-
tors are looking for aquatic
plants and New Zealand
mudsnails.
“Clean, Drain, Dry,” ODFW’s
boat cleaning guidelines.
Clean the boat complete-
ly, pulling off any plant ma-
terial, animals or mud.
Drain – completely drain
any areas that could hold
standing water by pulling
all drain plugs.
Dry – allow the boat to
dry before launching again.
W h a t ’s n e x t i n t h e
process? The Oregon Water
Resources Department is in
charge of approving or
denying ODFW and Cas-
cade Locks’ applications. A
30-day public comment peri-
od is underway. After re-
v i ew i n g c o m m e n t s, t h e
agency will issue a prelimi-
nary decision. Another
month of public comment
will follow before Water Re-
sources makes a final call
on the proposed water
rights swap.
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Photo by ODFW
INVASIVE ZEBRA MUSSELS were found in drain areas of an Ohio
boat at the ODFW boat inspection station in Ontario Friday.
HOOD RIVER NEWS (ISSN 07465823) is
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