Efforts in New York parallel those in Florida against BlueTriton, formerly Nestle, which produces huge quantities of single-use plastic bottles which pollute our environment and even our bodies.
The Ginnie Springs water bottling plant can produce up to six thousand bottles per minute. The Seven Springs Water Company wells at High Springs, which sells their water to BlueTriton, reduce the flow of Ginnie Springs and the adjacent Santa Fe River.
The Santa Fe River and its many springs are slowly dying due to over-pumping allowed by the State of Florida.
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
New York sues PepsiCo in effort to hold it responsible for litter that winds up in rivers
FILE – New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks to the media, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in New York. New York state sued PepsiCo on Wednesday, Nov. 15, in an effort to hold the soda-and-snack food giant partly responsible for litter that winds up in bodies of water that supply the city of Buffalo with drinking water. The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court by James. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state sued PepsiCo on Wednesday in an effort to hold the soda-and-snack food giant partly responsible for litter that winds up in bodies of water supplying the city of Buffalo with drinking water.
The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court by Attorney General Letitia James, accuses the company and its Frito-Lay subsidiaries of creating a public nuisance by making a huge number of plastic bottles and wrappers, some of which inevitably fall or blow into the Buffalo River when they are discarded.
Simply by making so much plastic, the company is hurting the environment, the lawsuit argues.
In past years, the company has repeatedly pledged that it would make meaningful strides to reduce its use of plastics.
The lawsuit alleges that the opposite is happening, and that PepsiCo misled the public about its efforts to combat plastic pollution.
Researchers say that some discarded plastic breaks down into tiny particles, called microplastics, which are small enough to be ingested. Microplastics have been found in Lake Erie, which supplies Buffalo’s drinking water, as well as in fish species that are known to inhabit the lake, according to the lawsuit.
The Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie, was once considered one of the most polluted rivers in the United States, though restoration efforts begun in 1989 have been restoring its ecosystem….
The lawsuit also seeks financial penalties and restitution.
“Our Buffalo community fought for over 50 years to secure hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up toxic pollution, improve habitat, and restore communities around the Buffalo River,” said Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, in a statement. “We will not sit idly by as our waterways become polluted again, this time from ever-growing single-use plastic pollution.”
