In case you missed yesterday’s and today’s blogs, you might have a bit of catch-up to do. But here’s the breaking news:
At about 2 p.m. today, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced an extension of the public comment period regarding Nestlé’s plan to more than double the amount of groundwater it pumps out of Michigan aquifers. The comment period will be extended another 30 days, to Dec. 3, 2016. Written comments can be emailed to [email protected].
In addition, the department “will hold a public hearing on the proposed increased large quantity water withdrawal. MDEQ will issue a news release when the date and location of the public hearing are established.”
Comment periods have been extended before for controversial projects. Last year, the comment period on US Ecology’s planned tenfold expansion of a toxic waste center in Detroit was also given an extension.
Stay tuned. The battle waged by conservationists against Nestlé has been going on for 15 years now, and signs point to the public hearing making a real splash.
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2016.
