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Governor has another, less-publicized, water problem

This is one of those stories that when you are finished reading it, you might say to yourself, this can’t possibly be true. Oh, but it is.

The state’s ever-vigilant environmental lobby has more to do than gripe about Pipeline 5 beneath the Straits of Mackinac. There is another water controversy that is out there, but not getting nearly as much attention.

Twelve years ago, before the bottled-water industry had mushroomed into a billion dollar a year growth business, the Nestle Corporation came into Michigan and requested permission to siphoned the groundwater from three locations in our state near Mecosta County. The state reviewed the plan which included 200 jobs and with seemingly little fanfare the contract was granted and each day the company magically transformed 150 gallons of water per minute, that’s right per minute, into Ice Mountain bottled water. Never mind that an ice mountain is not within a million miles of tiny Evart or the other two locations. So much for truth in advertising.

And each day that 150 gallons per minute came out of the groundwater and eventually to the market shelf where the sale of bottled water now for the first time has surpassed the sale of pop and other non-groundwater beverages.

The company pays an annual fee of $200 and a one-time $5,000 application review fee to the state without no other questions asked. That’s right, $200.

Not content with the current pumping rate, the firm has requested 400 gallons a minute and for a time, again without much fanfare, it looked like the Department of Environmental Quality would pro-forma sign off on this 167 percent increase in the water flow.

Then DEQ Director Heidi Grether, who sights a childhood developed love for the environment, decided to halt the pro-forma and extend the period for public comment on this request. No decision has been made yet.

Enter the debate one Gov. Rick Snyder who hired Ms. Grether. On National Water Day, Mr. Snyder was drawn into the debate for the first time. Well sort of.

Protestors out on the capitol lawn were demanding the governor do something about this Nestle situation. One long-time activists described Nestle as “one of the biggest criminal lobbyists” making decisions behind closed doors that could find all of us waking up one morning to discover the water is gone.

To be fair, local officials in Evart report no negative impact on the water supply but that reassurance will not appease the Greens.

As for the governor, who asserts he wants to protect the Great Lakes, he had a chance to wade into this flap but stood down instead of standing up.

Asked about the current $200 fee he noted, “that’s what the statute currently calls for.” Perhaps he was hoping that would end the discussion but some snotty reporter wanted to know if he wanted to change that?

He side-stepped again suggesting, “that’s a question the people can look at.”

The question was not about what the “people” could do, it was about what he might do and as it turns out the answer is nada.

“I don’t have a recommendation,” he finally admitted quickly adding, “it’s a fair question to ask that could be dealt with by the legislature.”

The upshot of this appears to be the governor does not want to take a stance even though it is his administration which is considering the Nestle request.

There’s no question that he has other fish to fry these days as he tries to salvage the Medicaid expansion program from the jaws of the Trump administration. The governor also has the budget to grapple with while fighting back his own party on efforts to slice the income tax rate.

Yet when it comes to water his critics could argue there appears to be a blind spot. The governor was late to the Flint water crisis mess for whatever reason and now with the suggestion that a company could pump 400 gallons a minute of the state’s water resource just so it can fatten it’s profit margin, wouldn’t you think the governor could muster up something more than just, “it’s a fair question to ask?”

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