In Michigan: Nestle Gets FREE WATER to sell while FLINT PAYS FOR POISON. (This is wrong)

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/02/michigan-nestl-gets-free-water-flint-pays?utm_source=Crooks+and+Liars+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4a14f92199-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d4904be7bc-4a14f92199-330141725

To really understand how Michigan ended up poisoning the residents of Flint, you need to know that it was never really about saving money so much as making money. You need to see who is paying for water, who isn't, and why not.

First, look who gets all the water they want in Michigan, and practically for free:

In 2001 and '02, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued permits to Nestlé, now the largest water bottling company in the world, to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from aquifers that feed Lake Michigan. This sparked a decade-long legal battle between Nestlé and the residents in Mecosta County, where Nestlé's water wells are located. One of the most surprising things about this story is that, in Mecosta County, Nestlé is not really required to pay anything to extract the water, besides a small permitting fee to the state and the cost of a lease to a private landowner. In fact, the company received $13 million in tax breaks from the state of Michigan to locate the plant there.
The spokesperson for Nestlé in Michigan is Deborah Muchmore. She's the wife of Dennis Muchmore-that's Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's chief of staff, who - he just retired and registered to be a lobbyist.

Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck has a tortured relationship to the question of whether access to clean water is a human right. His company, which remains a major partner in the Koch brothers' American Legislative Exchange Council, is trying to overcome a bad reputation with human rights organizations. Critics have charged Nestlé with draining California's aquifers during the current drought.