LEWISTON — A citizen trade commission, made up of small business owners, environmentalists, human rights advocates and other public-interest groups, has scheduled a public hearing at 6:30 p.m Thursday at the State House in Augusta to examine whether Maine's groundwater ownership laws will be affected by international trade agreements.

The Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission was created to monitor how Maine laws interact with trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Maine Legislature earlier this year charged the commission with examining issues that may arise from groundwater extraction by multinational companies, such as Nestle Waters North America, which operates the Poland Spring water bottling company in Maine.

"There were a lot of bills that were brought to the Legislature (regarding groundwater extraction) and one of the ways the Legislature tried to deal with it was to create this study so that we could try and get our arms around this issue," said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who serves as the commission's House chairwoman.

The commission is working with the Attorney General's Office and the Water Resources Planning Committee to investigate the issue,
Rotundo said.