18 May 2016
Cascade Locks, OR, voters approve anti-bottled water initiative
Nestlé won’t be bottling spring water in Cascade Locks, OR, any time soon. A ballot measure that effectively bans large bottling operations there was approved by 68 percent of the voters yesterday. The Oregonian has the story.
Nestlé had planned to bottle 100 million gallons (≈ 300 acre feet) a year from Oxbow Springs to sell under its Arrowhead brand.
The fight over the project was intense. According to the Oregonian:
Critics oppose Nestle on environmental and ideological grounds. Some argue against the waste inherent in selling water in plastic bottles, while others say Nestlé’s plan amounts to privatizing a public resource for corporate profits.
Some target Nestlé specifically as a bad actor that exploits small, economically depressed communities while failing to deliver on promises of financial salvation. Members of the Warm Springs tribe, who consider Oxbow Springs a sacred site, say state leaders could be violating their tribal treaty rights by agreeing to let Nestlé take the spring’s water.
The outcome of the election may be challenged in court by local residents who favor the economic activity the bottling plant would bring to the community.
Cascade Locks is known for its access to the Pacific Crest Trail and other hiking trails in the Cascades. I spent more than a little time there when I lived in Oregon. It’s one of Oregon’s historic communities, but economically it seems to be struggling. In addition to the proposed water bottling plant, a casino — always an engine of civic and moral decay — has been proposed for the city by the Warm Springs tribe.