Having recently attended an inspiring event at which Poland Spring recognized the 72 community partners in Maine it helped with critically important contributions in 2009, I was astonished to read the nasty attack on the company from Howard Corwin of Center Lovell in the July 26 edition of the Sun Journal.
It just proves the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished, at least in Maine.
At the event I attended, Kim Jeffries, CEO of Nestle Waters North America, gave one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard, speaking from the heart about how much he values the company's employees; speaking with pride about how they have grown their business and become an international success; speaking with compassion about the company’s donations to people struck by disasters such as the BP oil spill; and speaking with commitment about their partnerships with good causes in our local communities.
The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine is one of those good causes that is blessed by its partnership with Poland Spring — and we are proud to represent 50 Poland Spring employees who are members of our organization.
Sportsmen understand the concept of using renewable resources on a sustainable basis to offer economic opportunity to our friends and neighbors in Maine. Whether it's water or wind, trees, moose, deer or brook trout, our state has strong protections in place to assure that these resources are sustained for future generation.
I know Mr. Jeffries is proud of that. So am I.
George Smith, Mount Vernon, executive director
Sportsman's Alliance of Maine
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Thinkingman - think again
The aquifers, where NWNA draws water, are composed primarily of sand and gravel, not fractured bedrock. See http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/pubs/series/descrip-aq.htm , http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/water/facts/aquifer.htm and http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/pubs/online/aquifers/aquifers-ad.htm. Many of these significant sand and gravel aquifers stretch for miles and connect with adjacent surface waters. Many streams, brooks, rivers, estuaries, ponds, and lakes receive a significant amount of subsurface "groundwater" from these aquifers. Surface waters greater than 10 acres are, by statute, owned by public and managed by the State. Groundwater isn't owned by the public, though many citizens believe that it should be, given that large scale groundwater extraction can significantly adversely impact adjacent surface water bodies.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.THERE ARE 600,000 JOBS IN MAINE, AND NESTLE PROVIDES
(supposedly) 800 of them (and not all of them are full-time with benefits). They claim a $40 million annual payroll. However, Nestle's annual net profits would have to range at least in the hundreds of millions. This is an issue of basic fairness. Nestle needs to pay a subsidy for the resource that they plunder from our state.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.NESTLE CLAIMS 800 JOBS PROVIDED IN MAINE.
This number can not be verified. In the runup to the November 2009 referendum on large-scale water extraction in Wells, Nestle claimed 800 jobs in York County! Since there is only the Hollis plant in York County, we wondered if they were including our selectmen and ordinance review committee in that number. We thought maybe they were including their lawyers at Pierce Atwood and their publicists at Barton & Gingold, and they didn't realize that Portland is in Cumberland County!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.MANY STATES IMPOSE A "SEVERANCE SUBSIDY" OR
severance tax on resources that are taken out of the state and sold for profit -- water, oil, gas, minerals, etc. This is an issue of fairness. It isn't fair that Nestle's CEO and shareholders get rich off our water that they took for free , while Maine voters have to pass a $10 million referendum to improve water quality, support drinking water programs and construct wastewater treatment facilities. If this makes sense to anyone, contact your state representatives and let them know how you feel about this issue.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.MAINE'S SURFACE WATER (PONDS AND RIVERS)
fall under the "public trust." According to water expert, Jim Wilfong, "... ultimate ownership resides in the people of the state; and the government has a consequent duty to protect these for future generations. Groundwater, by contrast, has been relegated to the 'absolute dominion' rule." Under this archaic, common law rule, anyone (citizens of Maine, non-citizens, even foreign corporations) can pump all the water possible from the aquifer without regard for anyone else. Maine needs to put groundwater into the public trust for protection for our future generations.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Veritas you are wrong!
veritas, my answer might be different if I was in western US, a good chunk of the west is located over a vast aquafer which goes on for miles covering several states thus an argument could be made by any of them however in MAINE our aquafers are local, mostly through fissures in granite bedrock under us, local and not interconnected (thus polluted rivers like the Androsgoccin have no affect on drinking water, but local contamination does). Replenished by natural effects such as rain and snow, but very local...so next time - do YOUR homework before spouting on something you obviously have little geology background on.
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George, I understand what you are saying andIcan't off the top of my head remember the letter you refer to, but I do not think imposing a small tax/ bottle/gallon extracted, would cripple the company, and could provide necessary funding to/local+State govern ment, and cosequently all of Maine taxpayers in these tough times!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.More taxes? If we tax water, let's tax tampons too!
Do you not think they are already paying some hefty taxes? You are talking about an excise tax like alcohol or tobacco......for water?????
That is crazy. What you gonna tax next? Charge Tambrands 10 cents for every tampon they make?
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We dont really need water or tampons, so lets just tax the companys that make them to the point that they have to raise retail prices to cover the taxes.
And then nobody can afford them. Who needs tampons and water anyway?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Veritas? Do you have proof yet?
Have you found a source to validate your claim that the groundwater in Maine belongs to the State of Maine?
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But unfortunately, Maine exercises an 'Absolute Dominion' Rule of water control, by which a landowner may intercept water in his well from that under land belonging to others - or to the state, even to the adverse effect upon others without incurring liability.
So it's not who owns the water - but who owns the well - the water can come from anywhere.
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then why should they be charged for the water?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.They own the straw -
Not the drink
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Prove that the "people of the State of Maine"
own the water.
Give me a source for what you are saying.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Veritas
What tax does everybody else in business in Maine pay that NWNA doesn't pay?They pay property taxes on the land that they have purchased.They are invested in protecting the sustainability of Aquifers on their properties,they are regulated by the State. I don't understand how people can believe the State of Maine Gov. isn't taxing any business or individual more than their fair share. Increasing taxes for whatever reason they can dream up in legislature is not going to solve Maines problems. The statement ,they don't pay for our water is ridiculous. You say your in business yourself, than you should know better than me that Maine isn't giving anybody a break unless the State is getting something out of it. I'm more concerned with trillions of dollars the current and former administations are sucking out us and our future generations than I am water NWNA is sucking out of the ground.
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How much do they pay for the water?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Who exactly would they owe for the water?
Who owns underground springs?
Should everyone in Maine that has a well pay for their water also?
When the water passes under my property, is it only mine until it reaches my neighbor?
And, if we do figure out who the owner of the underground spring is, how do we then figure out how much money they have invested in it? What did it cost them to manufacture the water?
I hope you can answer these questions for me.
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How much water do you ship around the world?
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If they had to pay for the water, who would they owe it to? Who owns the water?
And what exactly is them bottling it and selling it costing anybody?
And what does shipping around the world have to do with it? They receive the sales revenues which keep Mainers working. Goods out/money in, thats simple Econ 101.
Besides, water is renewable.
1 People harvest it
2 People drink it
3 People urinate
4 Urine evaporates
5 Water turns to rain
6 Rain seeps into the ground
7 People harvest it again
8 People drink it again
Harvesting spring water does not cost the community or the state anything.
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Who owns the water in springs?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The People of the State of Maine...
Because God sure the hell didn't give it to Nestle Waters North America.
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if nestle owns the land and takes water out their land, then should pay the state. based on your logic, landowners with wells who take water out of their land should have to pay the state also. you must have city water.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Lets go one further - if you
Lets go one further - if you own a forest stand, and take the trees do you pay a tax on the trees? How about a gravel pit you take gravel out of? How about taking air from the environemnt to filter and bottle into pure oxygena nd other gases for business use, lets tax them too! What a bunch of idiots, just looking for more tax dollars.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The trees are static - sources of aquifers aren't....
Have you ever found a business you wouldn't subsidize there, Bob??
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Actually Veritas, you are wrong again
There are only two sources of aquifers in Maine is from precipitation accoeding to the Univeristy of Maine:
http://www.umaine.edu/WaterResearch/outreach/groundwater_protection_dige...
" There are two types of aquifers in Maine: surficial and bedrock. Surficial or unconfined aquifers receive groundwater recharge directly from precipitation, and consist of a mixture of soil and broken rock deposited by glaciers. Sand and gravel aquifers, which can yield up to 50 gallons of water per minute, are a kind of surficial aquifer formed thousands of years ago by melting glacial ice. Glacial meltwater streams drained toward the ocean, depositing sand and gravel along valleys in southern and eastern Maine. In bedrock aquifers, water is stored in tiny cracks and fractures in the solid rock below surficial deposits."
Surficial aquifers are the only ones that we can get a steady supply of water from, so it is all we use. It is replenished by rain and snow.
Do you really think Nestle should pay for rainwater? Does the state own the rain water?
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that should read that the only two sources of aquifers in Maine are precipitation AND ancient glaciers.
We only use the water from rain supplied aquifers.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The trees are static - the location of waterflow isn't
Thus 'thinkingman' you aren't...
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Not to mention the local jobs they provide
They give back alot, not just in taxes, but also in providing jobs. And what about the service they provide? With the state of our tap water here in Lewiston, I would say that bottled water is essential. Do you think the state could tax them and the retail prices won't go up? Of course not, the taxes would have to be passed on to Maine consumers by raisiing prices.
It seems to me that bottled water is better for the evironment anyway. When you turn on the tap to get a glass of water, you first have to let the water run down the drain so that the sediments will clear out, and to wait for the cooler water that is further down in the pipes. So we probably waste at least two glasses of water just to get one glass to drink. On the other hand, bottled water is 100% usable with no waste by the consumer at all. Also, bottled water is only used for drinking and not showers or cleaning, which both produce waste that isn't used, it just goes down the drain.
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A few bucks for a bribe isn't enough for Tron.How much of a bribe does he need?Trons statements are completly false as usual.Tron is a liberal and so any business that is successful is stealing or cheating to be successful. I don't know how much NWNA pays in state, employee, fuel, property and all the other taxes, (neither does Tron) but I feel quite confident they are paying their fair share. If they were a struggling company and laying people off , making cuts in benefits and the purchase of raw materials. Than they would be in good standing with all the Trons out there. Poland Spring water is their # 1 brand. They are not going to run the state dry and move on. Besides the State of Maine monitoring the Aquifers, NWNA invests a great amont of capital in protecting the resourse as well.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I believe they are giving
I believe they are giving back by paying taxes, employing many who would not have jobs if they weren't here and being good stewards of the land. Why is it that if a company is successful, it makes them bad??
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Like the rest of us in business do.
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that Nestle is sucking up Maine's natural resource without giving back to the state. Perhaps a few bucks as a bribe to the Sportsman's Alliance is enough for Mr. Smith, but it isn't for me. Nestle is making billions out of Maine's natural resource without giving anything back. This should not stand.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Tron, what do you want? For us all to die of thirst?
Do you want all of us to stop drinking water? Don't we need water to live?
What is the difference if Poland Spring bottles the water for us, or if we get it from a tap? A gallon of water from Poland Spring does not deplete our available water any worse than tap water does. I think the city water here in Lewiston tastes nasty, and I have read that some of the additives they put in it are actually harmful. I believe they said it would kill pet fish. I dont want to drink anything that kills fish.
So I buy water by the gallon at Hanaford's. Am I destroying the states resources by buying my drinking water from Poland Spring? I don't think so. A gallon of water from Poland Spring is not taking anymore than the City of Lewiston if I get that gallon from them.
How about yourself? You are taking away from the state's resources when (if) you take a shower or flush your toilet. What's the difference?
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