Earth like blood running through our veins. University of Oregon Environmental Law Professor Mary Wood was recently quoted in Stephyn Quirke’s article “Keeping Nestlé at Bay,” in discourse of the importance of indigenous practices: “To arrest the hemorrhage of natural systems brought about by federal and state trustee mismanagement, tribes must reclaim a measure of their ancestral environmental sovereignty” (Quirke 2015). Luckily, the voices of tribe members have played a significant role in the most recent battle with Nestlé. Environmental activist groups such as Local Water Alliance and Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge have been working closely with the Confederated Tribes to petition signatures for the approval of a new ballot measure prohibiting commercial water bottling in Hood River County. The Hood River County Water Protection Measure was qualified to appear on the 2016 ballot when, on December 7, campaign members turned in over three times the 497 signatures needed to approve the measure. Local citizens, campaign members, tribal members, and thousands of other supporters of the Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge Campaign erupted in celebration and the news exploded over the internet. In addition, on April 4, 2016, The Local Water Alliance announced that over 100 Hood River County businesses and farms officially endorsed the water protection measure (Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge, 2016). This is not only a huge step in the fight against Nestlé, but also in the field of indigenous rights and environmental justice. It is understandable why Cascade Locks would consider the construction of a water bottling facility to aid in the creation of jobs and boost tax revenues. However, many Hood River County community members concede that Nestlé will not create jobs, but rather, take them away. Well-known community member Mike Kitts addressed Nestlé’s promise to provide jobs, saying, “Bottled water plants are highly automated and only provide a small number of low-paying jobs while threatening our water supply that is critical for thousands of existing jobs” (Keep Nestlé out of the Gorge, 2016). In light of the the drought and other environmental concerns, external costs such as transportation investment that Nestlé refuses to account for, and violation of the Treaty of 1855, allowing Nestlé in the Gorge is the worst possible way to solve the city’s economic problems. House recently noted that the port of Cascade Locks is in negotiations with two alternate, smaller scale companies whose arrival would provide up to 50 estimated jobs (House, 2015, oregonlive.com). Nestlé does not have to be the “end all be all” of Cascade Locks. As an Oregonian with roots in many of the towns scattered throughout the Gorge, I can say with confidence that I have deep faith in the State of Oregon and its residents to understand the inherent value in water as a human right and therefore public good that should not be privatized. Desperate times may indeed call for desperate measures, but not enough to consider a long term contract
22
the ecotone / 2016