1.1 million acres are burning, and already, dozens of homes have been destroyed. Firefighting resources are stretched thin — and the National Guard has even been deployed.
Nestlé is closing in on a lucrative water privatization deal that will hand it millions of gallons of some of the cleanest drinking water in drought-ravaged Oregon -- permanently. And get this: Nestlé will only pay one penny per 40 gallons of water -- and then it will turn around and sell the same water back to the public for $2.63 per gallon.Nestlé is coyly marketing this awful plan as a way to create local jobs -- but the reality is that it will only create 48.
And that's not the only way Oregon is getting conned. The cost to maintain the infrastructure needed to support the fleet trucks hauling water in and out of the bottling plant will come entirely out of the pockets of the public.
The truth is what Nestlé is trying to do in Oregon has been its mercenary strategy for decades: target a small, rural town in dire financial straits, offer them peanuts for their most precious resource and then make out like bandits. The fact that the world is facing a coming water crisis hasn't slowed it at all. If anything, Nestlé is becoming even more reckless. Now is a time to establish a precedent to how the world treats corporations like Nestlé who believe they can put a price on our most priceless resources.
Campaign created by SumOfUs member: Joseph Schommer