Please take a moment today and email this letter to EGLE Director Clark here (ClarkL20@michigan.gov) and demand he say no to Nestle! Then share this letter with your networks and ask them to flood his email. Michigan says NO to Nestle!
Dear Director Clark,
I strongly urge you to withdraw the permit granted by the Snyder administration to Nestle Waters US to increase pumping at the White Pine Springs Well No. 101 to 400 gpm. Your administration came into office pledging to reverse course from the harmful actions taken towards our public water resources by previous administrations. As you know, when Nestle first requested to increase their pumping in Osceola Twp., over 80,000 of your constituents submitted comments opposing the permit, and only a few dozen submitted comments in support.
This permit never should have been granted in the first place. The modeling data provided by Nestle in the permit application is not enough to support their claim that there would be no adverse resource impacts due to increased pumping. The waters of our state are a public resource, and you have been entrusted as the stewards of that resource. Now that the contested case around Nestle’s permit request has ended, and exceptions to the Judge’s proposed decision have been filed by Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and the Grand Traverse Band, this permit has landed on your desk. You have the power to protect the public and our water resources as the governor promised to do in 2018.
As you know, thousands of Michigan families lack access to safe, affordable drinking water right now. Families across our state have had water service shut off because they couldn’t afford to pay water bills. Others have water contamination issues due to lead service lines, PFAS, and other harmful chemicals. It is a particular affront to those among us who don’t have access to water that an international corporation like Nestle can take water that belongs to the people of Michigan, bottle it, and sell it back to us at a huge profit, and send it across the world while our own families and neighbors do not have access to safe, clean, affordable drinking water.
We are counting on you to do the right thing and to fulfill the pledges the Whitmer administration made to its constituents by withdrawing the permit and setting a new course for protecting water in Michigan.
Thank you,
Your Name
Address
City/State/Zip
Liesl Clark
Director of EGLE
ClarkL20@michigan.gov