From the Detroit Free Press via the Duluth News Tribune, by Hugh McDairmid
The state of Michigan says it wants to ensure Nestle Waters Inc. uses Michigan's water responsibly -- keeping it within the Great Lakes basin.
Nestle says it wants the same rights that every other water-using business has.
So on Friday, the company sued over conditions of a new water-use permit issued by state regulators. It is the first of what may well be numerous legal challenges in coming years to Michigan's aggressive plan to control how and where the state's vast water resources are used.
"As we move forward, if we write new rules or the Legislature enacts new laws ... there may be legal challenges," Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Chester, who is also a lawyer, conceded Friday. "We knew this was coming."
At issue in parallel lawsuits filed in state and federal courts Friday is the state's permit allowing Nestle to bottle and sell municipal water purchased from the city of Evart.
That permit contains an unprecedented restriction, limiting the company to selling the water within the Great Lakes basin. That way, say state regulators, the water will return to the lakes -- setting an important precedent for future diversions that might siphon much more water than Nestle's relatively modest amounts.
In a statement issued Friday, Nestle says the in-basin requirement is an illegal barrier to interstate commerce and an unfair restriction that does not apply to myriad other businesses that ship Michigan water elsewhere in products ranging from automobile parts to canned cherries.
"The restrictive nature of the conditions left us no choice but to take this action today," said Michael Haines, attorney for Nestle.
The crux of the dispute is whether Michigan has legal authority to dictate how and where water may be sold, used and transported.
If it does have authority, the effect of new rules could extend to huge water users such as manufacturing plants, farm irrigation systems and even high school classes that sell bottled water under their own labels as fundraisers.
If the state doesn't have authority, there's little to stand in the way of water pipelines to other states, or massive container ships loading Great Lakes water for sale in lucrative markets overseas, say environmentalists.
