In the case of Orland, Calif., a tiny
town on Interstate 5 about 100 miles north of Sacramento, Crystal
Geyser counted on dealing with a bunch of ignorant country hicks.
Unbeknownst to most of the locals, they operated in secrecy under the
guise of the consulting firm, MALCOLM PIRNIE. This firm was genius
in getting all ducks in a row, to the point of getting a
representative hired on with the local newspaper well in advance. In
secrecy they convinced the local City Council members to put a
expensive lift pump to handle the waste water to go to the city
sewer. They wined and dined some local businesses with implications
of promised work. They cozied up to adjacent landowners. They
drilled a 24" test well.
When they finally made their formal
request for the City for the building permit, the word had "got
out" and a group of us were already complaining to the City
about the lack of transparency. When the proposal was submitted
without the name of the company, the City rejected the application on
the basis of "incomplete" because the company was not named
on the application.
This gave us a little time to loosely
organize, and call ourselves SOWR for Save Our Water Resources. We
were mostly farm / farm related , We enlisted help from an active
environmental group, A local attorney/judge was in our group, as
well as a former county supervisor,
When the City gave its OK for the
project without a complete Environmental Impact Report, we filed suit
against the City, and Crystal Geyser. Crystal Geyser had already
agreed to pay any legal fees to the City. A n environmental law
firm from Sacramento took our case. SABRINA TELLER handled the
case for us.
The ensuing 'fight' split our little
town like the North vs the South. The rally cry was for JOBS,
JOBS, JOBS. In reality, very few jobs would have gone to locals, as
my husband and I went to other bottling plants, and in secret,
watched the employees come and go at shift changes. They are so
highly automated that very few employees are needed. In our case,
even the clerical work would not have been local. CG had its own
construction company which would have come in to do the initial
construction---including the finish (tile) work.
The method is to begin under the guise
of a 'Mom and Pop' little company. Then once it is up and running,
no one can stop them from expanding. They lower the neighboring
property values, then buy it up, then expand further.
They have no intent to pay for
additional sewer, county roads, etc. We went to CALISTOGA, where
the company has an old plant. The roads in poor condition, due to
the constant round the clock travel of the water trucks.
In my research, I found that the 'mode
of operation' was pretty consistent with the other large water
companies. We were lied to, and false hopes were given at heir
"job fair" where local unemployed were filled with
compliments and false hopes. (No one interviews potential employees
even before the building has a permit)
I could ramble on all night, but a
typist I'm not.
I love the Flathead Valley, and would
not wish for a bottling plant if I were a resident there.
I moved out of Orland before Crystal
Geyser announced it was leaving, but since I left, the people of
Orland have had to ration water, and many, many wells have gone
dry. They would have really been in trouble if the water bottling
plant would have been built.
Good Luck, Dalene (Last name withheld)
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