Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Upcoming Nestle Meetings

Hi All,

Just wanted to inform you all of some important dates.

We are holding info meetings in Salida and BV next week as follows:

Sunday, March 29, 4 pm at Bongo Billy's Salida

Monday, March 30, 7 pm at the Buena Vista Community Center

Please try to attend one of those meetings to find out what you can do to keep Nestle Waters out of Chaffee County.

For more information check out www.salidacitizen.com, www.chaffeecounty.org, www.stopnestlewaters.org, and Monday's Denver Post.

The next Public Hearing with opportunity for public comment is scheduled for April 21 in Buena Vista. Please make it a point to attend. In the mean time, write letters to the commissioners and to the editors of Mountain Mail and the Chaffee County Times.

Last week our group became a non-profit Chaffee Citizens for Sustainability. You can reach us by email at ccfsustainability@gmail.com.

Pass this info on to your friends and neighbors!

Michele

Monday, March 16, 2009

11 Consultant Reports Posted on County Website

Hi All,

Don Reimer wrote today that 11 consultant reports have been posted on the chaffeecounty.org website.

Everyone come to the Public Hearing on Wednesday, March 18th at the Steam Plant and bring a friend or two. It starts at 1pm, with public comment set aside for 6:30. I you plan on speaking, have a copy of the text for the commissioners. If you do not wish to speak, you can submit a written comment and it will become a part of the public record.

I have been told that a final decision will not be made until at least April 8th. However, we are going to ask for a 12-month moratorium in light of the new info that keeps on surfacing and we encourage everyone who gets up to speak to demand a moratorium as well.

Michele

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hey Everyone,

We have the consultant reports done for Chaffee County. They have been sitting in a file up at the county building. They are the "meat" for the opposition. watch out for them and pay special attention to draft 3D and 3F.

Also plan to come to Bongo's at 4pm Sunday to get some good talking points.

Write to commissioners!!!!

Show up March 18, 6:00pm, commissioners mtg!!!!!!

Michele

NEXT GROUP MEETING

Greetings all,

We are organizing another meeting to provide all those citizens concerned about the Nestle project with some new information that has  been received.  This is important information in light of the coming hearing at the Steam Plant on Wednesday the 18th at 1:00 PM.  

Please try to attend our next meeting and invite your friends.  Here are the particulars:

Meeting Date:  Sunday March 15, 2009
Meeting Place:  Bongo Billy's in Salida
Meeting Time:  4:00 PM

Thanks!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Talking points and strategies from Jay Hake

Greetings New Friends and Neighbors,

Thanks to each of you for attending last night’s meeting and thank you for your willingness to be involved in this important issue for Chaffee County. As we discussed last night, this project is moving very fast and we need to respond quickly in order to make our voices heard. While there are many ways to get involved, I believe the most important thing anyone can do right now is to get involved in the public hearings with the County Commissioners. Remember, that meeting takes place on March 18th, starting at 1PM at the Steam Plant (NOTE: Apparently this meeting is being moved to the end of the month, but we still need to respond NOW). You can get a great deal of information on this project at: http://www.chaffeecounty.org/Page.aspx?PageID=4056 . With that, here are some suggestions about how to get involved:

1. Show Up! Even if you don't feel comfortable testifying, please show up to the meeting. Ask your friends, neighbors, and relatives in the area to show up. Let's fill the room. We really need to show the County Commissioners that citizens in Chaffee County are paying attention to this issue and that they care deeply about the outcome. This is an essential part 1.

2. Let your voice be heard. Commit to either writing a letter to the Commissioners or giving public comment at the meeting. As one of our attendees last night rightly stated, the only time the Commissioners HAVE to pay attention to what you say is during the public comment period. So, please come and speak. It is a small commitment to make in relation to the potential impact this project will have on the County (more tips on this below). Also, if you can, please bring a written copy of your key points to the hearing and leave them with the Commission.

3. If you cannot attend and speak, please write a letter to your county commissioners stating your position and your concerns. Also, the County staff has prepared what are called Application Review Memoranda for this project. The County has also received reports from their own consultants regarding this project. Although this information is public, none of it has been posted on the website along with Nestle's materials. Ask them to publish this information on the web as well.

Address your letter to the Chaffee County Commissioners (please address them as Commissioner______): Mr. Frank Holman, Mr. Dennis Giese, and Mr. Tim Glenn at the following address:

P.O. Box 699
104 Crestone Avenue
Salida, CO 81201


4. Contact the Aurora City Council, or spread the word to any friends or family you have in Aurora. The Aurora City Council is voting on the approval of the Nestle water lease on March 23 during their regular session. Aurora Water confirmed for me today the following details about the lease. It is a 10 year lease for 200 Acre Feet of water. The lease has a renewal option for another 10 years. The source of the water is Arkansas and Colorado River water already owned by Aurora that is considered surplus capacity. Aurora has the right to stop sending water to Nestle during a Stage III drought only. Aurora defines Stage III drought as when their reservoir storage is down to 60% of its full capacity. In other words, they can only stop selling water to Nestle during "Severely Dry" periods. So, residents will be on water restrictions in Aurora long before they can stop delivering water to Nestle under this agreement. You can find Aurora's Water Management Plan at: http://www.auroragov.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/article-publication/014178.pdf.

The Aurora City Council can be reached at:

15151 E. Alameda Parkway
Fifth Floor
Aurora, CO 80012
(303) 739-7015

The Members of the Council are (please address them as Councilman or Councilwoman):

Mayor Ed Tauer
Ms. Deborah Wallace
Ms. Renie Terson
Mr. Larry Beer
Ms. Molly Markert
Ms. Sue Sandstrom
Mr. Bob Broom
Mr. Bob FitzGerald
Mr. Ryan Frazier
Mr. Steve Hogan
Mr. Brad Pierce

5. Write letters to the Mountain Mail, Salida Citizen, and the Denver/Aurora Papers.

6. Tips for writing/testifying. The goal of your testimony should be to directly address the 1041 Application, as well as provide your opinions and concerns as residents of the county. Tell the commissioners why you are there, what your concerns are, and why you have those opinions. For some brief background, consider the following purposes Chaffee County has outlined for the 1041 application process. These are not specific to Nestle, these are straight from the County's 1041 application regulations, which can be found here: http://gigshowcase.com/EndUserFiles/299.pdf

In other words, ANY 1041 application should be guided by these principals:

(a) To promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of Chaffee County;

(b) To encourage and strengthen the established industries of agriculture, mining, tourism, recreation and education;

(c) To plan for adequate transportation, water, wastewater treatment, electricity, telephone, schools, parks and other similar facilities, and to provide for the phased development of such services and facilities;

(d) To protect the beauty of the landscape and the rural character of the County, to enhance recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, to preserve important archeological and historic sites and significant wildlife habitat, to protect air and water quality, and to conserve soil, water and forestry resources;

(e) To protect and enhance the economic strength of the private and governmental sectors of the County;

(f) To regulate development projects that would otherwise cause excessive noise, water, and/or air pollution, or which would otherwise degrade or threaten the existing environmental quality within the County; and

(g) To ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that growth will pay for itself, and to ensure that the present residents do not have to subsidize new growth and development through
increased taxes and/or degradation of their existing quality of life.

Pay particular attention to letters a, b, d, e, and f

Additional points to consider are:
1. the broader questions of whether we should support the privatization of a vital natural resource by for-profit companies

2. the potential traffic impacts caused by 50 truck trips per day coming to the facility

3. the lack of commitment on Nestle's part to fully commit to specific deliverables and efforts to restore the hatchery, to provide for public access to the land, to grant a conservation easement on the property. Remember, Nestle states on their website the following benefits:

"Dear Bruce,
 I was wondering what Job opportunities this might create here in the Area, as we who live here know the Jobs are very hard. ---VP
Dear VP: 
The primary benefits of our proposed project to Chaffee County residents are the protection of open space and natural resources, the complete restoration of the existing hatchery to its natural environment, Nestle sponsorship of area programs and annual tax revenue to Chaffee County.
If approved, project construction will generate local jobs for several months with an estimated payroll of $1.9 million. The completed facilities will be unmanned so any other potential job opportunities exist with the maintenance (plumbing/electrical/snow-plowing) of the load station facility and possibly some truck drivers.
I appreciate your interest and hope that I have answered your question.
Regards, Bruce"

Please note that based on my reading of the project there are no firm commitments to provide ANY of these benefits. When does Nestle plan to make these commitments
Please see http://www.nestlewatersco.com/chaffeecty/index.php?p=bruce_updates for more information.

This is probably too much information at one time, but I hope you all find it helpful. Thank you again for time and efforts.

Sincerely,
Jay Hake

Hello Concerned Fellow Residents

Last night’s meeting was a good start and it is now very apparent that time is very short. The Commissioners meeting is 7 days away! In my mind it is those 3 men that hold the key that will (or will not) let Nestle into this County. And hence it is those 3 men that need to be reached and impressed with our concerns and ideas.

It is important that the meeting on the 18th allow the public the opportunity to voice their position on such an important issue as this.

--John Graham

John Graham's letter to the board of commissioners

Dear Commissioners,

In light of the experience that occurred at the Public Meeting with the Planning Commission Hearing on March 3, 2009 concerning scheduling public testimony, I would like to say that I think it is very important to organize the March 18th meeting so that the public can more easily schedule their time to participate. The Nestle application is quite significant and an opportunity to hear from the public is an important part of the process.
Thank you,

John Graham


I sure don’t think it would hurt if they heard this message more than once.

John Graham's Letter to the Editor--published in the Mountain Mail

This letter would like to address the concept of trucking water 125 miles from Chaffee County to Denver for the purpose of bottling it for sale. The fundamental idea is flawed and presents an idea that flies in the face of the concepts of sustainability and concern for our environment.

Nestle is the company that is proposing this idea to the residents of Chaffee County. Why do they want to do this? The answer lies in the fact that they have helped to create and promote a market for “spring water”, a product which they promote as superior to other water. The campaign has been successful in spite of the fact that consumers in blind studies can rarely ever detect the difference between “ordinary” water and “spring” water. Nestle wants us to help them to produce their spring water product. I would like to add at this point the fact that Nestle has a very profitable business and market for selling their “Pure Life” water which they bottle in Denver using water directly from Denver Water Department.

It is my conviction and sentiment that this planet cannot afford the luxury of transporting “spring water” over these great distances by tanker truck when clean pure water is already available. By saying “yes” to Nestle we are saying “yes” to the support of a practice that is not healthy for the Planet and surely not healthy for the County.

When consumers hear that Chaffee County has taken the position of not supporting Nestle to take water from our County and of not being swayed by the carrot of short term economic gain, I think it will send a positive and clear message that we care about our health and environment, both on a County level and a Planetary level.

To those residents who share this view, please let your neighbors and friends be aware of this issue so that we may all let our County Commissioner know of our concerns.

--John Graham

Nestle implications in Chaffee County

I am writing to let you know about two events: Monday - The showing of FLOW: How did a Handful of Corporations Steal Our Water, and Tuesday - the NESTLE public hearing

FLOW will be shown Monday night, March 2nd at 6pm in Bongo Billy's basement.

"Water is the sleeping giant of the 21st century and we all need to wake up about it. FLOW opens our eyes about the greatest threat of our time - the global water crisis. It is a compelling and passionate film. Its engaging narrative will grip the viewer." - Robert Redford

We are asking that all who are able ,attend the MEETING about the proposed NESTLE Water Project to extract 200-acre feet annually from 2 springs at Ruby Mountain for their bottled water biz. The water will be shipped via 25 trucks/day to their Denver Bottling Plant.

The meeting is with the Chaffee County Planning Commission at the Steamplant, 1pm, Tuesday, March 3rd.

For more information about the project check out www.nestlewatersco.com, and click on Chaffee County Project, also there are two articles on the Salida Citizen website.

Thanks so much,

Michele Riggio