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We did it!
Just
yesterday, the California State Water Board
approved a Cease & Desist Order that will
stop bottling giant and Nestle-successor
BlueTriton from removing tens of millions of
gallons of water annually from southern
California’s San Bernardino National
Forest.
This is a huge, long-awaited win for
the Story of Stuff Community and our friends and
allies around the world.
Thank you for
seeing this campaign through with us!
I was so glad
to be in the hearing room for the vote with our
attorney, Rachel Doughty, and afterwards, to be
able to congratulate Amanda Frye, Steve Loe and
Hugh Bialecki, the local heroes who’ve led the
campaign through thick and
thin.
As I wrote to
you over the weekend, their stick-to-it-ivness
and grit are the stuff of which people-led
campaigns are made of. They, and all of us at
Story of Stuff Project, are in turn incredibly
grateful for the support our Community has shown
them and us over the years.
The story is
making national and even international news,
with coverage from the Los Angeles Times to the
Financial Times to Bloomberg and the Desert
Sun.
While the
Order ensures BlueTriton will have to cease its
unauthorized removal of the public’s water by
November 1st, there’s still some mopping up to
do.
Over the
coming month, we’ll push the Forest Service to
deny BlueTriton’s request for a new Special Use
Permit and to force the company to remove the
tunnels, boreholes and pipeline that have been
sucking water out of this severely
drought-impacted Strawberry Creek for decades.
With this Order in hand, they’ll really have no
other choice.
We’ll also
push the Water Board to impose the maximum fines
allowable for BlueTriton and its predecessors
decades-long removal of water without a valid
right.
But today,
we’re going to celebrate!
Thank you for
your generous, steadfast support of this
campaign. Water is life – and you have proved to
the world through this campaign that it's well
worth fighting for.
Onwards!
Michael
O’Heaney
Executive Director
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