Nestle, the massive food company responsible for the ongoing cookie-dough recall, is looking to tap 65 million gallons of natural spring water each year along the Arkansas River for Arrowhead brand bottled water, leaving officials in Chaffee County trying to figure out whether the deal is good or bad for the local economy.

That’s according to the Colorado Springs Gazette, which reports that the proposal by Nestle Waters North America is the first of several in Colorado in which the company is seeking to woo skeptical politicians like Commissioner Tim Glenn, who said during a meeting yesterday, “Nestle has made a decision not to create a lot of economic benefit in Chaffee County. They are coming in. They are taking a valuable resource out of the system and they are giving very little back in the way of utilizing that resource.”

Other commissioners, though, feel they don’t have the right to stand in Nestle’s way, and the county’s staff was ordered to draft a list of conditions for a water permit that would address concerns such as dry years and environmental issues. As for Nestle’s cookie-dough recall, the toll of the ill continues to mount: 51 people have been confirmed with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 in 30 states, according to CNN.

Posted 7/2/2009 at 12:30 pm by Michael de Yoanna
Business, Community, Natural Resources, Panorama, Politics :: Permalink :: Comments

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