Action Alert – May 18
MCWC and the Grand Traverse Band have taken exception to the proposal for decision
issued by Judge Pulter in the EGLE Administrative Law court on April 24.
Now we need the administration of Gretchen Whitmer to take this issue seriously as
they promised to do before the election. Nestle’s water grab in Evart is not legally or
morally acceptable. Only a fresh look at the record left over from the Snyder
administration will clarify this. The decision to accept the proposal by the judge, or not,
is now in the hands of Lisel Clark, Director of EGLE.
The decision to allow Nestle to keep the permit to draw 400 gallons per minute from well
PW-101 is also in the hands of the Attorney General and the Governor. They
campaigned on a promise to change the way we do business in Michigan when it
comes to protecting water resources and promoting water justice. They were going to
do something about the excessive influence corporations like Nestle had taken over
water policy and the past corruption of the public trust responsibilities of the state.
Unfortunately, to date, the administration through EGLE and the AG’s office has
continued to defend the Nestle permit and on Friday filed a brief asking Clark to just
throw out our contested case and grant the permit. This is difficult to comprehend when
we consider that 600 people drove or took buses to the hearing from all over the state
and over 100,000 comments were sent in opposing that permit in the first place. There
has been a large commitment of money and time on the part of MCWC and the Tribe to
deliver sound legal arguments to the court.
We know this administration can do better in support of the voters, the water, and the
damaged ecosystem in Osceola Township. It can do better than ignore the injustice in
Flint where Nestle continues to make deals to deliver spring water from the commons in
toxic plastic bottles at huge profit while the criminals responsible for the crisis there go
unpunished, and the pipes are still not all fixed. It can do better than give away another
210 million gallons of water a year to Nestle while thousands of homes in Detroit still do
not have running water and there has been little support for a reasonable affordability
plan in Lansing.
We urge all our supporters to speak up in support of a decision to withdraw the permit.
There is ample legal ground to do so.
We urge our supporters to demand that the administration respond to their public trust
responsibilities under the Constitution, stop defending what is not defensible, and begin
a serious review of the water justice issues confronting our state.
Call, email, text, tweet, or just write to Director Clark, Attorney General Dana Nessel,
and Governor Whitmer before they head down the wrong road. Urge them to withdraw
the Nestle permit. They have the legal power to just say no to Nestle.
signed – MCWC
GRETCHEN WHITMER
GOVERNOR
governorsoffice@michigan.gov
(517) 373-3400
DANA NESSEL
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL
miag@michigan.gov
(517) 335-7622
JOCELYN BENSON
SECRETARY OF STATE
Michigan.gov/contactSOS
(888) 767-6424