Request to let
Ice Mountain resume water flow denied
by
Ed White
Muskegon
Chronicle
Calling some
arguments "absurd," a judge refused to freeze a historic ruling that
stops Ice Mountain from pumping millions of gallons of water
Tuesday.
As
two rows of workers listened in the packed courtroom, Mecosta County
Circuit Judge Lawrence Root was not influenced by claims that
wetlands and a stream are in better shape than before water
withdrawals began in spring 2002.
He also was not
swayed by the most controversial consequence of his recent decision:
120 of 145 employees at the bottling plant soon will be laid off.
The "motion for
stay is denied," Root said Friday.
That means Ice
Mountain must stop pumping water after Tuesday. The company draws
water from wells in Mecosta County's Morton Township, then sends it
through a 12-mile pipeline to the bottling plant in Stanwood.
Ice Mountain's
owner, Nestle Waters North America, had asked the judge to suspend
his Nov. 25 ruling while the case is appealed to a higher court.
"We had hoped the
court would strike a balance that would keep employees working,"
said Mike Haines, one of four Nestle attorneys in the courtroom.
After 19 days of
testimony, two canoe trips and weeks of deliberation, Root declared
that Nestle's pumping illegally harms wetlands and a stream called
Dead Stream. He said the rights of people who live along the stream
trump the company's right to remove water.
Nestle's
legal team went to court with fresh measurements and photos -- even
breaking through ice -- to argue that wetlands and the stream are
healthy. Attorneys asked the judge to allow an average monthly
withdrawal of 250 gallons per minute.
The company had the
"great misfortune" of arriving in Mecosta County during a drought,
lawyer John DeVries said.
Root, however,
criticized Nestle's use of "snippets" and "slices of time,"
especially after an "extensive record" already was established at
trial last summer.
Even if water
levels in the wetlands and Dead Stream "are at an all-time high,"
the judge said, "they'd be higher yet" without the pumping.
Ice Mountain's
high-capacity wells capture water that would otherwise percolate to
the surface through springs and feed those water bodies.
"They took a big
risk" with the project, said Jim Olson, attorney for the grassroots
group that successfully sued Nestle.
There is nothing to
prevent the company from using water from a well at the bottling
plant. But Nestle said its main product is "spring water."
"The customer is
always right," DeVries said.
Not in this case,
the judge later suggested. "The desire ... to sell spring water
doesn't drive this truck," Root said.
Nestle next will
ask the state appeals court to put his decision on hold, though an
answer is not expected next week. The company will return to the Big
Rapids courtroom in January to ask Root for a new trial.
Nestle is pledging
to pay Ice Mountain employees through January and to maintain
benefits through February.
"This is shocking,"
said Jeff Stephen, 23, an engineer who took a few hours off to
attend the court hearing. "I live on a lake. Would I work for an
organization that would have an adverse effect on the environment?
This is a good company."
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