Statement from Shelly Gobeille, Protect Our Water and Wildlife Resources, at the Nestle Waters North America Headquarters

Hello, I’m Shelly Gobeille, and I’m a small business owner from Shapleigh, Maine.  I traveled all the way to be here at the Nestle Waters North America headquarters because I am outraged at how Nestle came into my community without permission from or even the knowledge of residents.  I’m here to deliver the message that they can no longer affect our water supplies, environment, and rural community.

In 2006 we learned that Nestle was testing water sites in our protected game preserve. The corporation was uninvited and unannounced – until we discovered them there.
 
We knew what happened in Fryeburg, so we knew that individual communities could never be on a level playing field with this corporation.  

And as soon as we saw the huge trucks they planned to use, 22 wheel trucks charging through our town 24 hours a day and seven days a week, we knew just how much Nestle was going to disrupt our rural community.  

So we organized as so many others have in communities across the country, going door to door, and we found overwhelming support.  For example, last September, there were more than 240 people at a town hall meeting to determine whether or not to pass a moratorium on water extraction.  Our selectwoman said that it was the biggest turnout in town history.   
And two months ago we finally passed a right-based ordinance that allowed the public to vote on who would control our water.  For months we reached out to our neighbors to discuss the situation, even as Nestle was paying people to go door to door to convince us to vote against the ordinance.  But in February, the people overwhelmingly voted to keep our water out of Nestle’s hands and under local control.

But ever since we got the ordinance passed, Nestle has gone over our heads and straight to the state house, stocking every hearing with lobbyists and lawyers.  They’re working to undo everything that was accomplished at the grassroots level in communities throughout the state.  
 
In community after community, we’ve seen that when one tactic fails, Nestle changes things up and tries another.  What doesn't change is the resolve of our communities to keep water under local control.  And we know all too well what happens when local control is lost .

Nestle keeps going over our heads, so now we’re going over their heads and bringing our concerns directly to the corporation that wants to control our local water reserves.

So I am really here to let this corporation know that they can continue to attempt to isolate small, rural communities to reap enormous private profits, but we will take our struggle downstream and take ourselves out of isolation.
 

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