News Flash! NESTLE Blinks, Asks County to Recirculate the Draft EIR

This just in from the groups opposing the Nestle’s proposed water-bottling project in McCloud:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (July 2, 2007) – In a major victory for the McCloud River, Nestlé Waters North America has asked Siskiyou County to conduct additional environmental analysis and prepare a new Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the company’s proposed water bottling plant in McCloud, CA.

Without being privvy to the inside discussion, I’m guessing the original EIR was so flawed and incomplete, that Nestle ultimately agreed with one local county official, who felt the county couldn’t approve the project due to the tidal wave of comments.

It’s not much, but it’s a start.

From the press release:

Last year, California Trout, the McCloud Watershed Council, and Trout Unlimited criticized the Draft EIR, asking the County to collect more data on the project’s impacts and re-circulate the report. The groups also met with Nestlé Waters officials from California and the company’s headquarters in Connecticut to make the case for a new approach.

“From the original environmental review, it was impossible to say what effect the plant would have on Shasta-area springs or the renowned McCloud River fishery,” said Brian Johnson, Director of Trout Unlimited’s California Water Project. “Nestlé’s agreement to start over is a significant decision, because it gives us all a chance to find out what the consequences would be.”

“Before we give our water away to a multi-national corporation for a hundred years, the true costs to our families and our future must be adequately assessed. The original document was deeply flawed, and re-circulating the DEIR will provide an opportunity to better assess the true costs, benefits and impacts of the proposed project,” said Debra Anderson of the McCloud Watershed Council Board of Directors.

The agreement to re-circulate another Draft EIR is clearly a positive step. The next step will be to define the process and timeline for preparing a new draft. The groups are especially interested in a more complete project description that clarifies the amount of water that can be used, a more robust analysis of mitigation measures and project alternatives, and additional information to adequately assess baseline conditions.

At the heart of the request for a re-circulation of the DEIR is the need for several years of peer reviewed studies to determine baseline conditions. For example, there is no adequate record of flow and temperature conditions in Squaw Valley Creek, a valuable tributary that could be harmed by the project. Without this most basic stream condition information it is impossible to determine potential impacts of the project.

Hopefully, good data will be collected, illuminating the questions many of us have about this project.

For example, Nestle suggest that amount of water they’ll take is insignificant in terms of the overall flow, but what will their withdrawals do to water temperatures on Squaw Creek and the Lower McCloud during warm months? What about drought years?

Answer? They don’t know. And they haven’t tried to find out, preferring to brazen it out with bold statements backed by little but hot air. More as it happens.

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