But things get even worse for the people of the people of Flint.
Though they are right next to the Great Lakes – vast bodies of fresh
water – this water is being stolen by the Nestle Corporation.
Even worse, Nestle is being
paid to do this, through Michigan tax-payer subsidies.
Nestle is selling the water that could be used for the people of
Flint, and they are making a fortune doing it. All of this was
encouraged by Michigan’s former Republican governor, John Engler.
The Engler administration has literally paid Nestle approximately $10
million in local property and state education tax abatements, job
training, and infrastructure grants to steal Michigan’s fresh water.
These subsidies actually led to three separate citizen blockades since April at the company’s new bottling plant in Stanwood.
Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus, the 61st Lieutenant Governor of
Michigan and majority leader of the Michigan Senate, proposed a plan to
protect the Great Lakes, in defiance to Engler’s scheme with Nestle.
But in 2006, just weeks after Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
signed a package of bills to prevent mass diversions and withdrawals of
from the Great Lakes, it was made clear that Nestle was exempt from
these new regulations.
M. David-
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