October, 27 2010, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Julia DeGraw, Oregon Organizer: jdegraw (at) fwwatch.org; (503) 241-6556
Darcey Rakestraw, Communications Director: drakestraw (at) fwwatch.org; (202) 683-2467
Over 4,300 Comments Delivered Against Controversial Water Exchange That Would Bring Nestle Water Bottling Plant into the Gorge
Today a group of concerned citizens and allied organizations delivered over 4,300 comments to the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) from citizens who oppose a water exchange that would allow Nestle to bottle water from the Columbia River Gorge.
"It's not surprising that citizens across Oregon pulled together to let OWRD know this water exchange is a bad idea," said Julia DeGraw, Northwest Organizer for national consumer organization Food & Water Watch.
PORTLAND, Ore.
Today a group of concerned citizens and allied organizations delivered over 4,300 comments to the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) from citizens who oppose a water exchange that would allow Nestle to bottle water from the Columbia River Gorge.
"It's not surprising that citizens across Oregon pulled together to let OWRD know this water exchange is a bad idea," said Julia DeGraw, Northwest Organizer for national consumer organization Food & Water Watch. "Oregon's water belongs to all of us and is too precious to sell off to a multinational bottling company with a track record of leaving some of the communities it enters in worse economic and environmental shape than it found them."
Nestle wants OWRD to approve an agreement that would exchange part of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's water at Oxbow Springs with an equivalent amount of well water from the city of Cascade Locks. Nestle would then buy both the city's well and spring water to bottle under its Pure Life and Arrowhead labels, pumping an average of 166 million gallons of water out of Cascade Locks every year. This project could potentially affect the quantity and quality of water for the town of Cascade Locks and could negatively impact endangered fish species in the Columbia River.
Copies of some of the 4,300 comments were also delivered to both gubernatorial candidates, Chris Dudley and John Kitzhaber, since OWRD's decision whether or not to approve the exchange will take place when the new governor is in office.
"Whoever is chosen to be Oregon's next governor should be well aware of how his constituents across the state feel about Nestle moving into the Columbia River Gorge," said DeGraw. "Allowing this water exchange is a bad idea for jobs, wild fish, and the regions' water future."
The deadline for public comments is 5 PM this Friday the 29th due to: OWRD; Attn: Transfer Section, 725 Summer St. NE, Suite A; Salem, OR 97301. After the 29th OWRD has an undisclosed timeframe in which to review the comments and make a decision on the water exchange. Those who submitted comments will be notified of the Department's preliminary decision on approving or denying the exchange and will have 30 days to protest that decision.
Organizations allied in opposing this water exchange include Food & Water Watch, Alliance for Democracy, Bark, Environment Oregon, Oregon Council Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club, Fresh Water Trust, and the Native Fish Society. More details about the Cascade Locks water exchange can be found at https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/NoNestleinOR or on the Keep Nestle Out of the Gorge Facebook page.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
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CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said following the passage of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 (H.R. 5009) that "it should alarm every American taxpayer that we are nearing a trillion-dollar annual budget for an agency rampant with waste, fraud, and abuse."
Jayapal, who was one of 140 lawmakers to oppose the package, emphasized that the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits.
Despite being the only federal agency to never have passed a federal audit, said Jayapal, the Department of Defense "continues to receive huge boosts to funding every year. Our constituents deserve better."
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Jayapal noted that the funding package includes substantive pay raises for service members and new investments in housing, healthcare, childcare, and other support for their families.
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The Constitution vests Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war (though presidents have used military force without getting the OK from Congress on multiple occasions in modern history, according to the National Constitution Center).
During the Cold War, when nuclear weapons policy was produced, speed was seen as essential to deterrence, according to Jon Wolfsthal, the director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, who wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post last year that makes a similar argument to Markey and Lieu.
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Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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The October 21 strike destroyed a building housing 13 members of the Othman family, killing two women and four children and wounding seven others.
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Guevara Rosas said: "These attacks must be investigated as war crimes. The Lebanese government must urgently call for a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into the alleged violations and crimes committed by all parties in this conflict. It must also grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on Lebanese territory."
"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
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