AUGUSTA (AP) – The Michigan governor’s moratorium on new or expanded bottled water operations in that state until its Legislature passes a water withdrawal law drew praise Tuesday from leaders of a campaign in Maine to impose a tax on water extractions.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm ordered the moratorium May 27 following approval by state environmental regulators of a permit for Nestle Waters North America Inc. to buy water from a city’s municipal system for bottling.

Granholm’s action, combined with concerns about a contract Maine has negotiated with Nestle’s, underscores the importance of having a policy to protect state water resources, said Jim Wilfong, leader of H2O for ME.

Wilfong’s group is circulating petitions in hopes of forcing a referendum on its proposal to impose a 3 cent tax per 20-ounce bottle of water drawn from Maine aquifers. That amounts to about 20 cents per gallon of water, which the campaign says would bring in about $100 million in state revenue per year. Maine Gov. John Baldacci opposes the water tax.

The law would also create a board to regulate water extractions and monitor their effect on other water supplies, and create a trust in which revenues from water extractions would be deposited. Trust dividends would be paid to Maine residents.

H2O for ME faces a Sept. 23 deadline to collect 50,519 voters’ signatures needed to force a statewide vote in November 2006.

As of Tuesday, it had collected about 33,000, said the campaign’s Dick Dyer.

Wilfong believes there are legal pitfalls to negotiating a contract in the absence of a state water-extraction policy, as the state did with a Nestle’s subsidiary for extraction of water from Range Pond State Park in Androscoggin County.

With the guidance of a clear state policy, it is less likely that the state could be accused of trying to erect a non-tariff trade barrier in the event of a contract dispute, Wilfong said. Such a dispute would likely have to be settled by an international tribunal, rather than a Maine court, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Wilfong.

“This legal concern and concerns about sustainability cause us to applaud recent actions by Governor Jennifer Granholm’s moratorium on water development permits until more protections are in place,” Wilfong said.

Spokesman Jane Lazgin of Nestle Waters, based in Greenwich, Conn., dismissed Wilfong’s assertions about NAFTA implications as “a scare tactic.” The company also believes Michigan’s governor was overstepping her bounds in issuing the moratorium by singling out an industry that uses less than 1 percent of the state’s fresh water.

Lazgin drew a distinction between Maine and Michigan, saying that Maine already has taken steps to regulate groundwater.

The Baldacci administration, recognizing the complexities of water extraction issues, submitted legislation during this year’s session to review and clarify groundwater management regulations, said Baldacci aide Dick Davies.

The bill, which has received final approval and awaits the governor’s signature, calls for consistent groundwater policies between the Department of Environmental Protection and the Land Use Regulation Commission. It also triggers a process to review state laws to find gaps in water policies and recommend new ones.

Davies, noting that the Range State Park contract was negotiated during the previous administration of independent Gov. Angus King, said the current legislation was not prompted by fears of pre-emption by international courts in water disputes, but rather by interest in assuring that Maine’s water resources will be sustainable.