Mainers, protect your water giths from the likes of Nestle!!!

[GreenPartyVoter]

LD 1269
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/billtexts/HP088801.asp

Andy Fisk from the DEP has proposed an 8-page amendment to LD 1269 before the Natural Resrouce Committee. It removes municiple authority over groundwater extraction unless DEP designates the authority to the said municipality. It also creates a prescribed ordinance and rules/reg for those communities once the authority has been granted by DEP.

This would essentially eliminate the process that happened in Newfield/Shapleigh...remove Home Rule Authority over groundwater and further the corporate-state. This is exactly what happened in Pennsylvania regarding CAFOs. They waited to the end of the public hearing process so that we have all already taken off time from work and are feeling tired from this. Much of the language is similar to Sarty (Denmark representative) bill originally proposed LD 645. Nestle is hiding behind the beauracracy.

The kicker is that this came in as an ammendment during a work session, and would completely change the essence of the bill. Therefore, there is no option for public comment. Big government and big business strike again.

Committees have to have all of their bills worked and to the floor by next Friday. It is expected that the Natural Resource Committee will work this bill either Thursday or Friday (in two or three days). We do not have much time to work here.

Here is my proposal for action.

1. EMAIL ALERTS:
Logan will be sending Gail the cyber copy of the FISK amendment tomorrow morning when she receives it. By tomorrow afternoon/evening Gail will have an email that we can begin to circulate amongst folks. We send an URGENT email to as many people as we know urging them to take enough time out of their day to call both their representatives about this bill, as well as members of the Natural Resource Committee to kill the amendment to 1269.

2. PHONE CALLS
we get on the phone with as many consituents as possible. We need people to CALL members of the NRC...flooding them with their opposition to the FISK amendment.

3. LOBBYING
as many people as possible need to get to Augusta tomorrow and Thursday. I will get myself over there on Thursday. The NRC needs to see us! Hopefully those that are going up to the work session for 1028 can also take a little extra time to go and speak with legislators from NRC. I have to work on Friday.....but as many people that we can get in Augusta Thursday

4. PRESS
my personal opinion is that we dont focus as much energy in the press as we do with getting constiuents mobilized. This is a complex topic, and it might be challenging to get main stream press to swallow what we have to say. That being said....I am planning on calling some people that I have personal relationships with, and I urge everyone else to do the same. I am planning on making a press release based off of the language that Gail puts together tomorrow during the day.

5. LEGAL
I am calling Lynne Williams to see if there is any parliamentary violation!

If we have to, I guarantee that we can make a media spectacle if this goes to the Floor. But hopefully we will not have to.

We need to kill this FISK AMENDMENT so that this language does not go to the floor!

I am sorry to be sending on this email. I will be at work tomorrow, but will check my phone throughout the day, and plan on working on this all evening.
Feel free to call.

Lets see how organized we really are!

Water for Life
Emily Posner
--
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming--Pablo Neruda

i read dr. seuss when i was a child
he taught me well, i stand with the wild!

Defending Water for Life
207-930-5232
[e-mail]
www.defendingwaterinmaine.org

Meg Perry Healthy Soil Project
a program of Common Ground Relief
www.commongroundrelief.org
504-913-5635

[MaineDem]

1. Thank you for this!

:thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. You are very welcome. And in case you weren't sure "gith" was supposed to be "rights." Heaven

only knows how I screwed that one up. :P

[luckyleftyme2]

3. another way

since big business always finds away around laws for our natural resources we should make sure that they cannot contract more than a million gals of water per year from the state without paying dearly for it.
we should set up a fee scale (for stumpage) of .10cents a gallon for the first million gals ,.20cents a gallon for the second million an a sliding scale increase for every 100,000 gallons after that.
when they have drained our aquifers(and they have that's the reason they are after more) they will leave like the loggers in the 1800's ,the paper mills in the 20-21 century!
We seem to forget that we have the rights to whats under our land. did we not learn how the oil companies stole so much of their product from individuals? they done this same move-
perhaps we should make sure that every Mainer is aware who submitted this bill!
surely this is not the person we want representing our citizens!

IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN THAT WATER HAS MUCH MORE VALUE TO HUMANITY THAN OIL! LETS PROTECT IT!