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THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
DEQ applies strict standard for Nestle review Garret Ellison gellison@mlive.com L A N S I N G — Opponents of Nestle Ice Mountain’s stalled bid to pump more Michigan groundwater are praising a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality decision to subject the request to the strictest standard under Michigan law. In a Jan. 17 letter, DEQ Director Heidi Grether wrote the agency will consider the entanglement between tiebarred state laws that regulate withdrawal of more than 200,000 gallons of water per day for bottling when reviewing the company’s application to boost pumping at a production well in Osceola County. Prior to Grether’s letter, Nestle opponents, such as Jim Olson, president of FLOW (For Love of Water), a Traverse City environmental advocacy nonprofit, said the public was in the dark as to how the DEQ planned to review the application under Section 17 of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act. “It’s a very significant ruling on the part of the director and very significant ruling
for citizens,” Olson said. “It puts everybody on the same page.” In the four-page letter, Grether outlined the decision-making process the DEQ will employ when considering whether to approve Nestle’s request to increase the pumping rate to 400 gallons per minute on White Pine Springs Well No. 101, a move local opponents argue will harm two local springfed trout stream tributaries of the Muskegon River. According to state law, applications for bottled water withdrawals must be coordinated between Part 327 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, a 2008 amendment to the act commonly called Michigan’s Water Withdrawal Law, and Section 17 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, a regulation specific to Michigan water bottlers. According to the DEQ, Nestle’s application is the first such one to be made under Section 17 of the 1976 act, last amended in 2008. In the letter, Grether said the DEQ “must and will” decide whether the Nestle application meets the
Protesters turn out in January to oppose a permit for Nestle Corp. to draw water from the White Pine Springs Well in Evart. Mike Clark, MLive.com
“applicable standard” of a natural resources law subsection that, among other things, requires the proposed groundwater withdrawal result in no “individual or cumulative adverse resource impacts” and is “in compliance with all applicable local, state and federal laws, as well as all legally binding regional interstate and international agreements.” A s s e s s i n g “c u m u l a tive” resource impacts may include mitigating the pre-
dicted affects of climate change on the watershed, Olson argued. It also subjects the application to Michigan riparian law, which prohibits or limits groundwater pumping if it will harm local lakes, rivers or streams. That “reasonable use” doctrine was at the heart of the original lawsuit filed more than a decade ago against Nestle, which in 2009 agreed to a settlement that limited pumping to an average of 218 gpm from its Sanctu-
ary Springs wells in Mecosta County, with restrictions on spring and summer pumping. Olson represented the Michigan Citizens for Water Conser vation, the chief opponents to Nestle then and now, during the duration of that case. Gret her ha s “decided Michigan will follow the highest degree of review under its law,” said Olson, which could result in Nestle being limited to pumping at a lower rate, depending on how the arguments play out. D e s pit e t h a t pr a i s e , Gret her ’s let ter reje c t s Olson’s assertion in December that the DEQ made a procedural error that voids the application when the Water Resources Division approved the high-volume water withdrawal for Well No. 101 last year without notifying the public about the application. On Jan. 5, the Water Resources Division authorized Nestle to boost its a l lowe d pu mpi ng f rom 250 to 400 g pm on its well after state staff conducted a site-specific review that overruled a computer model that initially flunked
the application. Section 327.23 of natural resources law requires the DEQ to notify the public and hold a comment period upon receiving an application to withdraw more than 200,000 gallons per day, which Olson said was not done before the site review last year. The first public notice about Nestle’s request was not published until September. A lthough the DEQ “respectfully disagrees” that the site review was improperly conducted, Grether’s letter does say the year-old capacity increase decision “did not and does not, standing alone, authorize the increased withdrawal.” Nestle also must obtain a permit from the DEQ Office of Dr in k ing Water a nd Municipal Assistance for approval under Section 17 to reach 400 gpm. That approval was pushed back several months after MLive reported Nestle’s application and the DEQ was flooded with angry comments. The DEQ plans to hold a public hearing on the request later this month.
Habitat, SpartanNash join in fundraiser Maddie Forshee mforshee@mlive.com GR A N D R A PI DS — Habitat for Humanity has partnered with the SpartanNash Foundation to host a fundraising campaign to provide shelter in communities throughout the state. Guests who visit any one of the 89 participating SpartanNash-owned locations until Feb. 19 will have the opportunity to donate money at the checkout lane, and all of their donation will go to a local Habitat for Humanity organization. The locations include Family Fare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Markets, Forest Hills Foods, ValuLand and VG’s stores across Michigan. In total, 37 local Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the state will receive
funds from the donations. On the west side of the state, donations from 13 Family Fare supermarkets, five D&W Fresh Markets and Forest Hills Foods will all support the Kent County Habit at for Hu ma n it y. The Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity in Holland also will benefit. O t her pa r t icipat ing stores throughout the state will donate the funds to their local Habitat affiliate. H a bit at for Hu m a nity and SpartanNash have teamed up before for retail scan campaigns such as this. In campaigns in 2015 and 2016, the pa r tners raised almost $250,000. Since 2006, they have joined to raise over $1.3 million to build homes and provide affordable housing for communities in Michigan.
Pedestrian killed by car is identified John Agar jagar@mlive.com G R A N D R A P I D S — Police identif ied Mar tin Jay Defouw, 64, of Grand Rapids, as the pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle and killed Thursday. He was struck just after 7 p.m. as he crossed 44th Street SE near Kalamazoo
DATE AND TIME: 02/17/2017 at 12:00 PM SPEAKER: Ivan Landan, MD Spring Lake, MI
Avenue, Grand Rapids police said. He was about 50 yards west of the intersection when he crossed 44th Street from the south to the north. Police said the driver, headed west, had just accelerated after a red light when the crash occurred. Defouw died at the scene.
LOCATION: Brighton Graye's Bistro 1747 Plainfield Avenue Northeast Grand Rapids, MI 49505 EVENT CODE: TR399633 (1360636)
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