What is our response to the film, Tapped?
By using an abundant and renewable resource, Poland Spring has created nearly 800 jobs for Maine residents living in more than 125 communities across the state. As many other companies have been forced to cut back, Poland Spring will continue to invest in Maine.
This year alone, we invested $2.1 million and hired over 90% local contractors to construct a new spring water station in the Fryeburg region; opened a $60 million LEED certified bottling plant in Kingfield that created 45 new jobs; and invested over $65 million with other Maine businesses.
Wherever we operate, we listen carefully to local citizens, community organizations and businesses to minimize the impact of our operations in ways that are important to our neighbors, while maximizing the benefits to local communities.
To learn some facts about bottled water and about us, please see our statement and this video that sheds more light on Poland Spring in Maine.
Poland Spring is committed to creating additional jobs and continuing investment in Maine.
For example, construction recently began on our $2.1 million East Fryeburg spring water station, hiring local contractors and and protecting 1000 total acres of watershed land associated with this project in Fryeburg and Denmark. In Kingfield, more than 45 people have new jobs, including great benefits. Our Hollis bottling plant now employs nearly 400 people
Poland Spring listens carefully to local citizens to minimize the impact of our operations in ways that are important to our neighbors, while maximizing the benefits to local communities.
In order to hear directly from community members in Fryeburg, Poland Spring opened a Main Street office, holding weekly open office hours since 2007. While building our new plant in Kingfield, we spent the 75% of construction costs with local Maine companies. In the course of our current project in Fryeburg, over 90% of our contractors are local. As many companies are leaving Maine and laying off workers, we’re helping to stimulate the local economy.
Poland Spring’s business depends on the long-term sustainability of Maine’s groundwater resources. We have nothing to gain and everything to lose from overusing local water.
In Maine, this abundant resource is carefully monitored and regulated for long-term sustainability. In Fryeburg and Denmark, Poland Spring measures and reports on over 40 monitoring stations every month. Poland Spring operates under strict state and local regulatory controls enforced by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection and verified by independent scientists and water experts.
Poland Spring is committed to giving back and helping make Maine a better place to live and work.
Through sponsorships, donations, and volunteering, we support important causes and organizations in communities across the state. For example, we support the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s LabVenture bus so that fifth-grade school children from every community in Maine can travel to Portland and learn about Maine’s water resources.
What is our response to the film, "FLOW: For Love of Water"?
This film increases attention to the importance of protecting water quality and using it sustainability, that's a good thing. It also shines light on the issue that everyone does not enjoy access to a safe, reliable and affordable supply of drinking water. Bringing these issues to the public is commendable and important. Improving these issues will
involve work by governments and development organizations, with innovation and assistance from the private sector.
Bottled water didn't cause the environmental risks to public water described in this film and if it disappeared tomorrow, none of those risks would be lessened. In fact, people would lose an important option in situations where they don't have access to reliable drinking water for the reasons identified in the film.
To learn some facts about bottled water and about us, that you don't see in this film, please see our statement and video response.
Myth: NAFTA rules will prevent local and State regulation of Poland Spring water withdrawals.
Fact: The North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), a trade agreement among the United States, Canada, and Mexico, applies to protect trade within North America in “goods” and “products,” and to protect foreign investments from unfair, discriminatory treatment. It does not, as the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office recently concluded, apply to the regulation of water resources. Thus, NAFTA does not apply to prevent the State of Maine or a municipality from regulating Poland Spring’s groundwater extraction activities simply because Poland Spring is owned by a foreign corporation, Nestle Waters North America.
It is important to understand that NAFTA does not apply to property rights. In Maine, as in every other state in the United States, the right to extract groundwater is a property right to which trade laws do not apply. Water rights are not “goods” or “products.” As a result, states and municipalities are free to regulate how owners exercise those rights. This is consistent with the intent of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, who issued a joint statement prior to signing NAFTA: “Water in its natural state in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, aquifers, water basins, and the like is not a good or product, is not traded, and therefore is not and never has been subject to the terms of any trade agreement.” (Source: Joint Statement by the Governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States Concerning NAFTA and Water, Government of Canada, Office of the Prime Minister, December 1993)
As has always been the case in Maine, one who holds groundwater rights has the right to capture and use the groundwater so long as it is captured and used in a manner permitted by law and subject to applicable regulatory oversight. For example, the Maine Legislature recently adopted a new provision of the Natural Resources Protection Act that requires Poland Spring to obtain approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for certain groundwater withdrawals. This law, supported by a broad coalition of environmentalists, water users, regulators, and others, is not affected by NAFTA because it focuses on regulating the groundwater extraction, not its sale into commerce.
In addition, NAFTA’s provisions protecting foreign investments similarly do not prevent a State or municipality from regulating water resources. NAFTA essentially requires fair treatment of foreign investors by requiring that (1) foreign investors must receive the same treatment as domestic investors in similar circumstances; (2) governments must regulate foreign investments fairly, by providing for transparency in the process, a fair hearing, and avoiding arbitrary decision-making; and (3) governments must avoid taking private property held by foreign investors, except on a non-discriminatory basis, in accordance with due process, and on payment of just compensation.
As a result, it is clear that NAFTA does not prevent the State or a municipality from regulating the withdrawal of groundwater.
Myth: Bottled water plants bring few jobs.
Fact: Poland Spring currently employs over 800 people in Maine. Our plants provide local jobs to local people. Our Hollis plant alone employs about 400 people in Southern Maine.
Across the U.S., Nestlé Waters North America, of which Poland Spring Water Company is a division, operates 23 manufacturing plants, employing more than 4,000 people or about 170 employees per plant.
Myth: Bottled water plants bring low-wage jobs.
Fact: Poland Spring provides jobs that can help Maine thrive in the 21st century and give people the opportunity to build and grow their lives here. In an era of, and a place where, manufacturing jobs are vanishing, our company relies on quality workers living in rural areas. And we compensate our employees with a salary that, on average, is significantly more than the average Maine salary of $35,700.
Myth: Bottled water plants bring dangerous jobs.
Fact: At Poland Spring, we believe that prevention is the best safety policy, and we work hard to ensure that our employees are safe. In our bottling plants, we focus on worker health and safety in all training, prevention, auditing and reporting programs. Plant management reviews safety at weekly meetings and emphasizes accident prevention through an active “Near Miss” program in which plant employees submit ideas for preventing accidents and receive rewards and recognition for participation. In addition, supervisors in our plants carry out “Safe Behavior Observations” each month and report findings to the employees they observe and at monthly Safety Committee meetings. |
