|
||||||
 |
Free-trade case targets 2008 move by Newfoundland and LabradorBy NICOLAS VAN PRAET, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 26, 2010
Insolvent pulp-and-paper giant AbitibiBowater Inc. has launched a $500-million free-trade challenge to fight what it contends is the illegal expropriation of its assets in Newfoundland and Labrador. It would be one of the largest such claims brought against the federal government. Continue reading Abitibi launches $500-million challenge Days before the federal budget is to be tabled, AbitibiBowater has announced it is filing a NAFTA Chapter 11 challenge against Canada for $500 million. Download a Powerpoint Version by clicking HERE The public trust doctrine has its roots in the ancient Roman concept of natural law that held certain things, including the shores of water, were by their nature common to all. “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind – the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea. No one, therefore, is forbidden to approach the seashore, provided that he respects habitations, monuments, and buildings which are not, like the sea, subject only to the law of nations.” Justinian Code of 530 AD The doctrine was adopted under English common law under which the tidelands and navigable waters were held by the king in trust for the general public, a kind of noblesse oblige. These public rights were also vested in the colonies of America, and following the American Revolution, all the rights of the king were vested in the several states, subject to the rights the states surrendered to the national government under the U.S. Constitution. Continue reading Using Public Trust and Rights of Nature to Protect Maine’s Water for People and Nature by Ruth Caplan, Defending Water for Life Campaign Click here to View the Presentation In this podcast, Emily Posner, water activist, community organizer, grassroots lobbyist and legal worker speaks about the experience of Maine communities struggling to maintain control over their water resources as multinational corporations seek to withdraw ever increasing amounts of water for the bottled water industry. Continue reading Groundwater Extraction and Bottled Water: Lessons from Maine Opinion, SeacoastOnline, November 19, 2009 2:00 AM A Nov. 3 vote on water-rights in Wells already is well behind us, but we return to the issue this week with a story on communications between Poland Spring and a handful of town officials. We stumbled across the story, as we report, after Jason Heft of the Ordinance Review Committee forwarded our way via e-mail a letter to the editor. The letter stood out because it was signed by Heft but appeared to have been written by Corey Hascall of Barton & Gingold, the public relations firm out of Portland that has represented Poland Spring in its efforts to find new sources of spring water in southern Maine. It came as an attachment to a blank e-mail sent by Heft. The subject line on the attachment, an e-mail that had been forwarded to Heft by Hascall, said simply, “JASON: letter for your review.” By Steve Bodnar, SeacoastOnline, November 19, 2009 WELLS — Poland Spring’s use of an overt advertising campaign to connect with voters before a widely-debated vote on Election Day wasn’t the only way the company sought support leading into a Nov. 3 referendum, according to records from the Wells Ordinance Review Committee. The company’s Portland-based public relations firm, Barton & Gingold, also corresponded with town committee members to help bolster support for a large-scale water extraction ordinance that would have regulated any contract in town to withdraw water for bottling purposes, according to municipal e-mails obtained in a Freedom of Access Act request. Continue reading Poland Spring PR "helping" public officials in Wells SeacoastOnline, Opinion, Nov.5, 2009 Like Mayor Bloomberg in New York, who only narrowly held onto his seat Election Day despite spending more than $100 million of his own money on his election campaign, it’s hard not to wonder whether many Wells voters who rejected the proposed water ordinance were just fed up with the slick campaign Poland Spring led this fall. Continue reading Glossy campaigns sometimes wear thin (editorial) By Jamilla El-Shafei, organizer Save Our Water, Kennebunk, ME Another community says NO to Nestle! Activists in the communities which surround the Branch Brook Aquifer, located in the southern part of the state handily defeated a water extraction ordinance on a referendum vote in the town of Wells. The ordinance, written under the direction of the Nestle Corporate lawyers, would have opened the door to large scale bottled water extractors. The vote was 3,194 against large scale extraction and 1,420 for, a 69.2% margin!!! This was a stunning defeat for the corporation who was ousted from McCloud, California and in Shapleigh and Newfield, Maine this year. This was convincing testimony that a grassroots campaign cannot be replaced by slick marketing and Greenwashing. Continue reading After McCloud, Nestle gets a thumpin' in Maine |
|
||||
|
Defending Water For Life in Maine | Coordinator: Emily Posner |
||||||
