Nestle’s Latest Propaganda
It seems that your historian is webinar-challenged or perhaps jinxed when it comes to virtual meetings. At any rate, the following is a message intended for but not delivered to the Suwannee River Water Management District on May 12, 2020.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
During this hiatus of in-person meetings, I hope the board has not forgotten the Nestle issue, and likewise I hope you continue to do research on the company. The more one reads about Nestle, the more is revealed about their well-deserved horrible world-wide reputation.
Nestle recently distributed a press release touting what they perceive as a positive economic impact on Florida. Given what we know about the Nestle company, this document is probably misleading and biased. We have many examples which indicate this. Just Google Nestle Corporate Rap Sheet.
They claim a contribution of over $256 million and the number of jobs at 1,700. Even if true, these numbers are insignificant when compared to those from a 2016-2017 study done by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection which showed that outdoor recreation in Florida contributes $145 billion to the state economy and supports 1.2 million jobs. Water is heavily involved in this.
The point is that Nestle’s pumping activities negatively impact tourism and outdoor recreation by contributing to the deterioration of the springs, rivers and wetlands by lowering the water table, damaging wetlands and ecosystems, and reducing the flow of the Santa Fe River.
Additionally, the millions of gallons taken by Nestle further delays and impedes the recovery of the river and springs. To this must be added the unsightly pollution of tons of discarded plastic water bottles.
Some may say the pumping damages only a little bit, but all those many, many little bits are killing our river. It is way past time to stop this.
Since the year 2000 Nestle has paid a total of $20,561,758 for 88 violations. Of these, 35 were for workplace safety or health violations and 29 were for environmental violations. This implies that Nestle has a low regard for the well-being of both its employees and the planet on which we live.
Nestle is definitely not a good neighbor, and the fact that they want to draw millions of gallons from an impaired river in recovery flowing 28 per cent less than a few years back, proves that their claim to pumping sustainably is false.
Please do not allow Nestle/Seven Springs to intimidate and bully their way to this permit: please stand by your staff’s recommendation of permit denial.
