GREENWICH, Conn., April 23 2009 - The following was released by Corporate Accountability International:
While Nestle executives put on a good show of the corporation's green and good neighbor initiatives in Switzerland, communities sent out an SOS from the corporation's headquarters for its bottling operations in North America.
Leaders from communities near Nestle bottling sites, and the national Think Outside the Bottle campaign that works with them, delivered 10,000 messages in a bottle calling on Nestle to stop undermining local control of water.
Nestle is currently involved in water bottling disputes with communities in six states and Canada. From outside the shareholders' meeting the picture is an unpleasant one for the bottling giant:
Another run at McCloud. Nestle recently announced plans to make another run at bottling water near Mt. Shasta in California, despite years of local resistance.
Bottled water sales down. In the last year Nestle's global bottled water sales declined by 1.6 percent thanks to the economy and mounting grassroots pressure for bottlers to change their practices.
New Colorado expansion meets resistance. Just this month, new plans to tap aquifers that feed the Arkansas River surfaced in Colorado, provoking determined community opposition.
New England, new challenges. This year, New England municipalities have countered Nestle's aggressive expansion by passing moratoriums on water bottling. Still, Nestle continues to seek new bottling sites in the region.
In Florida, flexing its muscle. The corporation is fighting a Florida state proposal to tax bottlers to more fairly compensate the public for withdrawals.
"With Nestle the story is always the same, the only difference is the address," said Terry Swier of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation.
Swier's organization is involved in a protracted legal battle with Nestle over the bottling of water from a protected area in Northern Michigan. An early ruling determined that Nestle's pumps were likely to narrow streams, expose mud flats and reduce flow levels.
"Nestle is determined to run us dry in more ways than one and no amount of talk about being a 'good neighbor' will change that fact," said Swier.
Nestle's tactics for undermining local control of water goes well beyond the courts. It has done everything from engineering backroom deals to running manipulative PR campaigns to put a green veneer on its brands.
Downstream from its bottling sites, Nestle's green public relations machine is also a force. This leaves Think Outside the Bottle and allies wondering whether the corporation will follow through on other environmental commitments it has made on paper.
Grassroots pressure has forced Nestle to commit, in word, to full source labeling and improved water testing disclosure.
"'Green is as green does,' which may be a hard lesson for Nestle to learn given the corporation's history has been, 'green is as green says,'" said Deborah Lapidus, national organizer for Think Outside the Bottle. "If Nestle gets the message in the bottle, it'll change course and start honoring communities' right to protect their local water resources and follow through on its promises to consumers."
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