Nestlé has been pumping water from a national forest with an expired permit for over 25 years

[KamaAina]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/13/1377391/-Nestl-has-been-pumping-water-from-a-national-forest-with-an-expired-permit-for-over-25-years

The lack of regulation here is stunning. The U.S. Forest Service in Southern California just caught wind of the fact Nestlé's permit to pump water out of a national forest expired over 25 years ago.

An investigation by the Desert Sun found that Nestle Waters North America's permit to transport water across the San Bernardino National Forest expired in 1988. The water is piped across the national forest and loaded on trucks to a plant where it is bottled as Arrowhead 100 percent Mountain Spring Water.

Nestlé is the #1 bottle water producer in the country and own the brands Arrowhead and Pure Life. The company's response? Don't worry, folks. Nestlé "monitors its water use and the environment around the springs where water is drawn."

The California drought has gotten so bad we've been warned there is only a one-year supply left in the reservoirs. In Sacramento, Nestlé has recently been under fire from environmental activists, calling the company's unregulated tapping of California aquifers a "corporate giveaway":

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

1. This is outrageous

Thanks for posting.

[Major Hogwash]

2. I wonder how big the fine will be.

Normally, the USFS is right on top of things, but it seems in this case, they were asleep at the wheel.

[Plucketeer]

15. Fine?

Did you say, "fine"? Well we think so too. Everything is just fine.

[Blanks]

3. I hope they send in BLM, that'll teach 'em...

Hmmm, maybe not.

[central scrutinizer]

4. Paging the Cliven Bundy militia

Here comes that big old nasty federal gummint again

[DeSwiss]

5. Forgot the water, forgot the people.

- What else is new?

K&R

And frack the water:

[lpbk2713]

6. The GOP way of doing things.

Do whatever you want until you get caught.

[samsingh]

7. i have boycotted nestle for years - ever since their idiot chairman said that

water should be sold and not freely available.

I've also cost them money as companies I run don't buy any nestle products.

[riqster]

14. I've been boycotting them since the last century.

1977 in fact. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott

Leopards don't change their spots.

[tomm2thumbs]

8. They've been shipping it off to Florida to prepare for his announcement

He uses a lot of fluids when he gets nervous -- they wanted to be ready.

[BlueJazz]

13. !!

[Buzz Clik]

9. OMFG!!! This is a nightmare!!!

A bureaucratic nightmare.

I guess they will now renew their license.

[gregcrawford]

10. Nestle is right up there with Monsanto...

... as one of the most malignant corporate entities on the planet. Former CEO and Chairman of the Board, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is quoted as saying that, "people have no right to water." Presumably, unless Nestle sells it back to them AFTER the company steals it without recompense, as they have done around the world.

FUCK Nestle. I do not buy ANY of their products. Or Monsanto's, OR anything made by Koch Industries. Makes shopping a little difficult sometimes...

[DirkGently]

11. Doubtless they're cracking down

... on homeowners washing their cars or what have you though. Which is fine, of course. But somehow golf courses and hotels and ... bottled water companies(?!) have no bullet to bite here.

[itsrobert]

12. Somebody in the US Forest Service

Will be getting a fat check (or cash) soon. This little problem will go away.

[chapdrum]

16. if you're in Calif.

call Jerry Brown's office and give 'em hell: [phone].
Why should any corp be taking water from California (or any state) in a drought? Oh yes, because they can.
As others here have noted, Nestle' is one of the worst rogue corporations in the world.
And yes, its CEO publicly stated that water is not a right; he might benefit from waterboarding (with "produced" water aka fracking waste).

[KamaAina]

22. The permit in question is Federal

so we should be hounding our reps, Senators, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Oh, welcome to DU!

[kacekwl]

17. Permit ,

We don't need no stinking permit !

[Aerows]

18. And will they be taxed, fined

or otherwise held accountable? It's not as though California has water to spare.

Who authorized this and let it go on? Multiple people need to end up in jail/and or penniless for this.

[NBachers]

19. A Thousand Dollar Fine will make them regret this malfeasance!

[SoLeftIAmRight]

21. Yes and the 1000 for doing it ...

for the next 25 will too!

[Monk06]

20. More like corporate rape. We are dealing with their hand full of gimme and mouthful of much abliged

here in BC where they have been getting free water for years.

Severe restrictions need to be put on the bottled water industry. Pumping aquafers on an industrial scale by beverage companies and unsustainable, water wasting crops like cotton and almond trees should also be stopped.