Public comment period opens for Nestlé's bottling plans at an Oregon spring

The Oregonian reports that Nestlé Waters North America's bid to tap a Columbia Gorge spring for a new bottled water plant will be open to public comments through the end of September. For the plan to go through, state regulators have to approve a plan to swap city of Cascade Locks well water for spring water that currently supplies a state fish hatchery. If the exchange is approved, the city will be free to sell upwards of 100 million gallons of spring water a year to Nestlé. Opposition to the plant focuses on the potential ecological harm, the need to protect local water, and grave doubts about the local economic benefits that Nestlé claims the bottling facility will generate. You can read the story here, which gives information for submitting comments as well.