Score One For The Good Guys: Tiny Kunkletown, PA Wins Epic Fight With Nestlé Over Taking The Town’s Water For Profit

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Saying No to Nestlé: Tiny Kunkletown PA Scores A Huge Victory Over Corporate Water Raider Nestlé, Ousts Company

In this horrorshow world where the rich never pay for the crimes (six months for rape? Seriously?) and criminal government agencies routinely lie and place the lives of their constituents in danger (HPV vaccine? Seriously?) and corporate hogs gorge themselves by digging deeper and deeper into the only earth we’ll ever have at unfathomable cost (fracking? Seriously?) it is refreshing to come across a story in which the good guys win one for a change.

That’s what we have by any reasonable measure in the story of Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, on the heels of the news that corporate mega-giant Nestlé is bowing out on its attempts to build a water plant in the tiny Monroe County burg.

The plan would have had a Nestlé water extraction plant in Kunkletown pulling some 200,000 gallons of water a day out from under the town ship, then trucking it through the tiny town and bottling it at a nearby plant and selling it under their Deer Park brand.

“This entire village of Kunkletown came together and slayed the dragon, and it’s something to be proud of,” said resident Donna Deihl in a story reported by the Allentown Morning Call newspaper.

The company’s plans–which to no one’s shock involved some shady dealings with the municipality over hastily adopted, corporate friendly ordinances–have been the object of much scorn from the region’s residents, and observers from around the nation and the world who are disturbed by the company’s eagerness to commodify and exploit a vital human need that should be regarded as a human right, not a profit center.
Saying No to Nestlé: Tiny Kunkletown PA Scores A Huge Victory Over Corporate Water Raider Nestlé, Ousts Company

In this horrorshow world where the rich never pay for the crimes (six months for rape? Seriously?) and criminal government agencies routinely lie and place the lives of their constituents in danger (HPV vaccine? Seriously?) and corporate hogs gorge themselves by digging deeper and deeper into the only earth we’ll ever have at unfathomable cost (fracking? Seriously?) it is refreshing to come across a story in which the good guys win one for a change.

That’s what we have by any reasonable measure in the story of Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, on the heels of the news that corporate mega-giant Nestlé is bowing out on its attempts to build a water plant in the tiny Monroe County burg.

The plan would have had a Nestlé water extraction plant in Kunkletown pulling some 200,000 gallons of water a day out from under the town ship, then trucking it through the tiny town and bottling it at a nearby plant and selling it under their Deer Park brand.

“This entire village of Kunkletown came together and slayed the dragon, and it’s something to be proud of,” said resident Donna Deihl in a story reported by the Allentown Morning Call newspaper.

The company’s plans–which to no one’s shock involved some shady dealings with the municipality over hastily adopted, corporate friendly ordinances–have been the object of much scorn from the region’s residents, and observers from around the nation and the world who are disturbed by the company’s eagerness to commodify and exploit a vital human need that should be regarded as a human right, not a profit center.

The announcement came at a township supervisors meeting, where a Nestlé hydrologist announced the company’s plans to stand down in the face of logistical and design challenges, as well as community opposition.

“It is clear to us that the community in Eldred Township does not believe the process around this project worked the way it was intended and that many of you have concerns about this project,” he said. “We have not been successful in gaining the same acceptance here in Eldred Township as we have in other communities that host our operations.”

Well, here’s hoping that some of those other communities take note of the success of Kunkletown and pursue a fight even when a win seems like an impossible pipe dream.
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http://www.activistpost.com/2016/06/community-wins-as-nestle-drops-water-extraction-plans.html

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