...in the year 2000, there was a small grassroots, non-profit, all volunteer group that took on the task of stopping one of the worlds largest corporations (Nestle) from destroying a clear stream and several small lakes in Mecosta County, Michigan by taking 400 gallons per minute of spring water that fed them, while privatizing the waters of the commons. MCWC managed a precedent-setting victory after spending nine years in courts and a million dollars in legal debt. Nestle was forced to settle for half what they had been pumping and accept a monitoring plan that is still in effect. The Deadstream was been restored. With no corporate or government money, MCWC managed to pay off its entire debt and move on to help tackle other important issues of water conservation (fracking, injection wells, Line 5 pipeline, water shut-offs, Flint crisis, a potash mine, and more).
Nestle didn’t give up however. They just moved up to Osceola County and tried for the same 400 gallons per minute from a spring in Evart (2016). MCWC had to return to the courts with partial success when Nestle/Blue Triton withdrew the permit and settled for a little more than half that, rather than agree to a monitoring plan that would have exposed the damage they had been doing to two former trout streams. But that is not the end of our story...
Once again, MCWC took on a legal debt of over $200,000. We have managed, through the pandemic and the setbacks to the health of our members and leadership, to pay off all but $33,000 of this debt. We need your help to finish this so we can move on with the work we need to do.
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