A sign in support of the 1855 treaty signed by the Warm Springs Tribes of Oregon. Photo from Local Water Alliance / Facebook
Leaders and members of the Warm Springs Tribes are supporting a ballot measure aimed at blocking a controversial water bottling plant in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Nestle, the world's largest food company, wants to tap into a local spring and market the water. Tribal representatives say the project threatens their way of life and their treaty rights on the Columbia River. “I was told by my elders that if you start selling your resources, then they’ll go away,” tribal council member Orvie Danzuka said at a city meeting last month, the Associated Press reports. After the city refused to approve a resolution that would block the plant, a group known as the Local Water Alliance secured enough signatures to put Measure 14-55 on the May 17 primary ballot. It asks residents to ban any facilities that produce and export more than 1,000 gallons of bottled water per day from Hood County. “Look at me and see I’m worried. You should be worried too. Nestle’s going to come in here and destroy us. Don’t let that happen," Whitney Jackson, a young tribal member who exercises her treaty rights on the Columbia River, told city council members last month, according to a press release from Wanapum Fishing People against Nestle. Nestle opposes Measure 14-55. Every city council member except one also opposes it, according to the AP. Even if the measure does not pass, Nestle and the city would still need state approval for a water rights transfer for the bottling plant, Jefferson Public Radio reported. Get the Story:
Fight over plan to bottle water in Oregon town is on ballot (AP 5/12)
Ballot Measure Aims To Block Water Bottling Plant In The Columbia Gorge (Jefferson Public Radio 5/1)
Debate Over Water Plant in Cascade Locks Reaching Boiling Point (Public News Service 4/26)
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