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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, July 1, 2015 A5 Passions run high at Nestlé town hall Photo by Patrick Mulvihill NESTLE TOWN HALL brings in more than 120 people at the Cascade Locks City Hall last Thursday night. Audience members raise their hands for a chance to speak. Gordon Zimmerman, Cascade Locks City Administrator, points to the next speaker. By PATRICK MULVIHILL forum. Zimmerman gave an up- date on the status of the Nestlé deal. So far, the cross water rights transfer hasn’t yet been approved by the Oregon Water Resources De- partment. If the state agency issues the city a permit by the end of the year, Cascade Locks would transfer 0.5 cubic feet per second (cfs) — 225 gal- lons per minute — of its mu- nicipal ground water right in exchange for 0.5 cfs of Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s water right to Oxbow Spring, just east of town. The city would pipe those gallons from Oxbow Springs into the park’s industrial park, and sell it to Nestlé for bottling. Zimmerman compared the water bottling plant to the software company Intel’s water requirement, which uses 1 billion gallons annual- ly, 8.6 times as much Nestle’s proposed plant. Zimmer man explained that sale of the land will be managed by the Port Com- mission, and development of the land will be approved by the City. Members of local and Por tland environmental groups, including the “No Nestlé in Cascades Locks” coalition and the Local Water Alliance, spoke out in large numbers against the plant. In fact, they interjected several times during Zim- merman’s update speech, prompting him to say, “It’ll take a lot longer if you keep interrupting me.” When Briggs opened the floor for public comment and passed the microphone around, Nestlé opponents were most numerous in the audience. “I’m deeply disappointed with the Port Commission, the City of Cascade Locks, the ODFW, and our previous two governors,” said Kath- leen Fitzgerald of the Local Water Alliance. Fitzgerald applauded Cascade Locks City Councilor Deanna Bus- dieker, the sole councilor op- posed to the Nestlé deal. “She has been courageous to stand up against the odds, against the hard-nosed bu- reaucrats that have been given a small amount of power over citizens and their right to their water source,” said Fitzgerald. Anti-Nestlé speakers cited concer ns including in- creased truck traffic and plastic bottle pollution, an impact on local War m Springs tribes’ water rights, and a pressing need for pub- lic ownership of water in a time of countywide drought. “We are not in a drought in Cascade Locks,” said Zim- merman, responding to the latter comment. Hood River County de- clared a drought emergency last week, and included Cas- cade Locks in the resolution. County Administrator Dave Meriwether said there was an option to exclude Cascade Locks from the declaration due to its high annual rain- fall — an idea suggested by several citizens of the city — but the Board of Commis- sioners opted to include Cas- cade Locks in order to have the entire county considered on the state’s list. James Dean of Cascade Locks argued that Oxbow Springs is unrelated to the water supply of Hood River and Portland, where some audience members hailed from. “It seems that we have a lot of people here that this does- n’t affect,” said Dean. Dean named unemploy- ment as a central issue in Cascade Locks. “You proba- bly all have jobs, you have the opportunity for jobs. This little community relies on whatever … they can get.” Audience members asked Zimmerman how Cascade Locks would be able to hold Nestle accountable if they “did something wrong” in its treatment of the small town. “Shut off their water,” joked Zimmerman. He then suggested a “termination clause” be put in place in the contract with Nestlé, which could allow the city to with- draw. City Councilor Busdieker argued that the city wouldn’t be able to afford a legal tus- sle. She cited a similar situa- tion in Fryburg, Maine, in which the town tried unsuc- cessfully to sue Nestlé. “We don’t have the re- sources to fight their lawyers. This is too risky,” said Busdieker. These are the re gular meeting times of governing bodies for these agencies: Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., first and third Thursdays of the month. Cascade Locks Hood River Cascade Locks City Coun- cil, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second and fourth Mon- days of the month. Cascade Locks Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. Wa N a P a S t . , s e c o n d Thursday of the month. Cascade Locks Port Com- mission, 6 p.m., City Hall City of Hood River Plan- ning Commission meeting, 5:30 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Second St., generally the first and third Mondays of the month. Place and dates subject to change. Hood River Port Commis- sion, 5 p.m., 100 E. Port Ma- rina Drive, board room, first and third Tuesdays of the month. Hood River City Council, 6 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Sec- ond St., second and fourth Mondays of the month. Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District, 6 p.m., Aquatic Center, 1601 May St., third Wednesday of the month. Place subject to change. meeting, 4 p.m., OSU Exten- sion Service Building, 2990 Experiment Station Road, f i r s t T h u r s d ay o f t h e month. Hood River County Board of Commissioners regular session, 6 p.m., 601 State St., first floor conference room, third Monday of the month. Time subject to change. Library District Board meeting, 7 p.m., 502 State St., conference room, third Tuesday of the month. Hood River County Plan- ning Commission meeting, 7 p.m., 601 State St., first floor, generally second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Hood River County Water Planning Group, 2 p.m., 601 State St., first floor confer- ence room, generally first Wednesday of the month. Hood River County Com- mission on Children and Families Board meeting, 5:15 p.m., Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital boardroom, generally first Tuesday of the month. H o o d R ive r C o u n t y School Board, 6:30 p.m., meets at schools and dis- trict facilities on a rotating schedule (visit hoodriv- er.k12.or.us for location), second and fourth Wednes- days of the month unless school vacations or other h o l i d ay s i n t e r r u p t t h e schedule. H o o d R ive r C o u n t y Transportation District, 9 a.m., Hood River County T ranspor tat ion District Board Room, 224 Wasco Loop, second Wednesday of the month. News staff writer More than 120 people filled the Cascade Locks City hall gym Thursday to discuss Nestlé’s proposed bottling plant. Tension mounted as those in favor and opposed raised their voices with com- ments and questions. Nestlé’s proposed plant would set up shop at the In- dustrial Park in Cascade Locks, and bottle 100 million gallons of spring water annu- ally from Oxbow Springs in order to sell it around the Northwest. The town hall was coordi- nated by Cascade Locks Ad- ministrator Gordon Zimmer- man and a facilitator, Bar- bara Briggs of Hood River. A handful of Port and city leaders were present, includ- ing Cascade Locks Mayor Tom Cramblett, outgoing Port Commissioner Brenda Cramblett, Port Commission President Jess Groves and Port Interim General Manag- er Paul Koch, but those rep- resentatives were not in- volved in facilitating the Barbara Briggs ON THE AGENDA Hood River County H o o d R ive r S o i l a n d Water Conservation Dis- trict Board of Directors Hood River Weather Forecast Date Today July 1 Thurs. July 2 Fri. July 3 Forecast Sunny Sunny Sunny Daytime / Overnight High / Low (°F) 99° / 68° 104° / 70° 98° / 68° Sat. July 4 Mostly Sunny 98° / 68° Sun. July 5 Sunny 99° / 69° Oregon Weather Map Wind Speed WNW 3 G 13 MPH Barometer NA WASH. Astoria 55° | 69° Newport 52° | 63° Humidity 78% Portland 62° | 90° Salem 61° | 92° Dewpoint 64°F (18°C) Pendleton 64° | 97° Bend 57° | 93° Ontario 73° | 102° Eugene 59° | 92° Visibility NA Last update 29 Jun 7:00 am PDT IDAHO AGRIMET HOOD RIVER OR Lat: 45.6842 Long: -121.5181 Elev: 510 http://uspest.org North Bend 55° | 67° Medford 62° | 102° Klamath Falls 54° | 95° CALIF. © 2015 Wunderground.com This week’s Forecast Mon. July 6 Tues. July 7 Sunny Sunny 541-386-1123 98° / 68° Sunny and hot, with a high near 96. West wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable in the morning. 98° / 67° @gVc #& JVRcd 6iaVcZV_TV 3140 W. Cascade, Hood River Ac`WVddZ`_R]]j EcRZ_VU EVTY_ZTZR_d 7RTe`cj BfR]Zej ARced Actual High / Low June June June June June June June 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 - - - - - - - 79/56 83/54 86/62 95/58 105/60 99/68 91/69 Updated Monday, June 29 at 9:00 a.m. PST Data from www.weather.com 3Vde 3cR\V HRccR_ej
