Here's an update on Nestle's deal to export water from far Northern California [previous post] It points out the outrageous mark-up that bottled water makers achieve as well as the foolish naivite poor bargaining of communities that have something valuable to sell:
Nearly one-third of bottled water sold in the United States in 2006 came from the 23 Nestlé plants in the United States, earning the company $3.57 billion.Oh no, it's the "lost jobs" argument again. So, how many workers does it take to run an automated bottling plant? Not very many, I take it.
McCloud would receive about $305,000 the first year, based on residential water tariffs, which equals $191 per acre foot, or 15.5 cents per cubic meter. By comparison, Nestlé is paying $2,183 per acre foot to Pure Mountain Spring in Maine for its water, according to an economic study conducted by ECONorthwest, a consulting firm.
[snip]
Jane Lazgin, a spokeswoman for Nestlé Waters North America, said: "I think it's appropriate that communities would have questions and concerns. In most cases, we're welcomed because we're able to offer a rural community an economic benefit, while harvesting responsibly a natural resource and providing jobs that otherwise have been lost."
Nestle is really running a mining operation, and the natives -- as usual -- are not getting a very big piece of the pie. Instead of thinking "wow, Nestle is going to build a 1,000,000 sq foot plant and run 600 trucks/day through our town of 1,350 people -- we'd better give them a good price," they should get a BIG share of the pie -- more like $5,000/AF, since that's still only about 1.5 cents/gallon. To their credit, many people in the town are opposed to the contract as written and the plant is not yet built.
Bottom Line: They should fire/tar and feather the fools who signed the original contract and start again, or, better yet -- cut out the middleman, bottle "McCloud water," and sell a lot less of it for a lot more. Even if they charged 10,000 times the price they are getting now (for water, not bottling and transport)-- that's still 10 cents/gallon. (Hmmmm, 10,000 times Nestle's price is ten cents/gallon? Holy cow!)
Cross-posted to YubaNet
3 comments:
The original McCloud contract was signed by the McCloud Services District board -- without any public comment.
In fact, they rolled it out at a meeting, couldn't answers questions asked by residents, then stunned everyone in the room by approving it at the end of the meeting.
Few people had an inkling, and because the town couldn't afford a lawyer to go over this incredibly lopsided contract, Nestle so "kindly" provided the money for one.
The amount paid by Nestle for the water is largely fixed over the 100 year term of the contract, yet McCloud is saddled with almost all the infrastructure costs and responsibilities.
This means it's very possible McCloud's costs will exceed Nestle's payments only a few decades from now.
What a hose job.
As for being a good corporate neighbor, at one point, Nestle attempted to subpoenaed the personal (private) financial records of Nestle opponents in what amounted to an attempt at legal bullying.
By the way, here in lovely Grass Valley CA our elected leaders are actually considering another kind of mine - hardrock gold mining, in city limits, no less. Proposed by a Canadian junior that's never mined anything but penny stock investors and that has no clue what to do with their mine waste except to use a garage invention called Ceramext to "melt the rock like nature does" and turn it into ceramic tiles. As if people want mine waste on their kitchen counters. Or dump the cyanidized tailings and waste rock into our aquifer. They got kicked out of West Coast Green last year for not mentioning they had to create the mine waste first, before "recycling it." EIR due out in May or June. The same company (ESA) that did the enviro studies for Richmond for the Chevron upgrade - the one our AG is calling completely deficient re: global warming.
In the beautiful Arkansas Valley of Colorado just east over the Continental Divide from Aspen its crunch time for local residents who oppose Nestle coming into Colorado.On April 21, the Chaffee County Commissioners will decide the fate of a 1041 impact report. Approval of the 1041 will allow Nestle to pump water from this high alpine desert and truck it to a Denver bottling facility.
Groups like the Chaffee County Citizens for Sustainability http://www.ccfsustainability.org
are making a last ditch effort to stop the project, but they are up against Nestle and local interests.
To follow what is going on out here
please check out:
http://salidacitizen.com/
http://coyotegulch.wordpress.com/
April 21 is our day of reckoning, wish us luck.
(You may have heard that there is is a big snow strorm in Colorado today. Today the Arkansas Valley, just east of the 14,000 foot Collegiate Peaks Range, has received a mere dusting of snow.)
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