EPA Dumps One Million Gallons of Wastewater Into Colorado River

[Wilikon]

It appears that whatever can be done to worsen California's drought relief, is being waged by our state and federal government.

Does that "dig a hole" which demands, consistently, an uptick in either private, public, or both private and public sector expenditures?

http://www.conversationstarters.com/generator.php

 

[Wilikon]

No. I believe no one (upper level) will lose their job over this destruction.

Do you suspect the "incident" to have been purposeful?

Letter to Editor PREDICTED COLORADO EPA SPILL One Week Before Catastrophe=> So EPA Could Secure Superfund Status



Last Wednesday, a small EPA-supervised work crew inspecting the Gold King mine accidentally knocked a hole in a waste pit, releasing at least three million gallons of acidic liquid laden with toxic heavy metals. (ABC)

This letter to editor, posted below, was published in The Silverton Standard and The Miner local newspaper, authored by a retired geologist, one week before EPA mine spill. The letter detailed verbatim, how EPA officials would foul up the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money. It the Gold King mine was declared a superfund site it would essentially kill future development for the mining industry. The Obama EPA is vehemently opposed to mining and development.


The EPA pushed for nearly 25 years, to apply its Superfund program to the Gold King mine. If a leak occurred the EPA would then receive superfund status. That is exactly what happened.

The EPA today admitted they misjudged the pressure in the gold mine before the spill – just as this editorial predicted.

The letter was included in their print edition on July 30, 2015. The spill occurred one week later.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/08/letter-to-editor-predicted-colorado-epa-spill-one-week-before-catastrophe-so-epa-could-secure-superfund-cash/


--------------------------------------------
Can the 0bama administration be that corrupted?

 

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Can the 0bama administration be that corrupted?

 

Before I read this, whenever I would talk about it, I actually put quotes around the word accidentally. I never believed this to be anything but purposeful. But I am shocked someone predicted it. I would have thought they'd be sneakier than that.

[Wilikon]

Can the 0bama administration be that corrupted?

 

Before I read this, whenever I would talk about it, I actually put quotes around the word accidentally. I never believed this to be anything but purposeful. But I am shocked someone predicted it. I would have thought they'd be sneakier than that.

Predicted. Down to the precise numbers...
Whoever asked me the question if I believed it was in purpose knew something was up...

[Wilikon]

Democrats, green activists scrambling to provide cover for EPA in Gold King Mine spill


DENVER — The environmental left can be counted on to whip up an outcry whenever a private company despoils a gulf, stream or river — unless the polluter in question is the Environmental Protection Agency.

After days with little or no reaction to the Gold King Mine spill, some Democrats and green activists are scrambling to provide cover for the EPA by pointing fingers elsewhere and downplaying the magnitude of the blowout, which flooded the Animas River with 3 million gallons of toxic orange wastewater.

“Blaming the EPA for #AnimasRiver spill is like blaming a doctor for the disease,” Conservation Colorado said in a Wednesday tweet.

Said Colorado state Rep. Joe Salazar, a Democrat, on Twitter: “Focus of #AnimasRiver contamination should be on mining companies and their mining practices, not EPA, yes?”

The Sierra Club Rocky Mountain chapter posted a link to an article titled “9 things you need to know about the Animas River spill.” The list includes “The EPA messed up, but they’re not the root cause” and “This isn’t the first time this has happened, nor is it the worst.”

Colorado state Sen. Ellen Roberts, a Republican who represents Durango, said she didn’t appreciate the campaign. She said it muddies the waters amid the effort to determine what toxins are in the river and a plan to clean up of the spill.

“It’s clear that the EPA from the start has admitted that they were the cause of the spill, so I find this troubling,” said Ms. Roberts. “These groups — they’re trying to shift the focus. I think they have a different agenda.”

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy continued Wednesday to make amends for the accident by touring the Animas River in Durango. She said the agency will “immediately cease any field investigation work” to ensure that there is no chance of a repeat spill.

She said water quality in La Plata County, Colorado, has returned to “pre-event conditions.”

Ms. McCarthy, who said she was “deeply sorry” in a Tuesday speech, is scheduled Thursday to visit the recovery efforts in Farmington, New Mexico, where the orange plume from the Animas River connected with the San Juan River.

The Aug. 5 spill of acidic waste, coupled with the EPA’s failure to notify anyone for 24 hours, has led Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye to threaten a lawsuit. The attorneys general for Colorado, New Mexico and Utah met Wednesday in Durango to discuss a coordinated legal response.

“It is the job of the attorney general to hold folks accountable, and that is what I am going to do in Colorado,” state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said at a Wednesday press conference.

For groups like ProgressNow-Colorado, however, the emphasis is on the political fallout from the accident. The EPA needs all the good will it can muster as it launches its hotly contested Clean Power Plan.

ProgressNow’s Amy Runyon-Harris sent out talking points Tuesday on the spill, which included, “Did the EPA ‘cause’ the Animas River mine water spill?” The answer: “Yes and no.”

“Abandoned hard-rock mines in the mountains above Silverton have been a source of water pollution for many years. The EPA was investigating ongoing water pollution from these mines,” Ms. Runyon-Harris said in her memo.

“In short, the EPA did cause the spill, but not the pollution itself,” she said.

Blaming the mining company

Mesa County activist Claudette Konola said in a Wednesday op-ed in Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel that the real blame lies with “the mining company that never cleaned up the mess they left.”

But fingering the culprit may be a job better suited for a historian than the FBI. The Gold King Mine, active from 1890 to 1923, is one of about 23,000 decommissioned or abandoned mines dating back to Colorado’s gold rush days.

The Gold King Mine was ultimately purchased by the San Juan Corp., which said in a statement shortly after the blowout that it “has never mined the property or contributed to existing environmental conditions.”

“Using the best information available, it is believed that much of the contaminated water at the mine originated from another mining source and migrated to the Gold King Mine,” the company said. “SJC has worked cooperatively with the EPA to create a viable long term solution to the problem that has existed since 2003.”

The acidic orange discharge has alarmed locals, but some environmentalists insist it isn’t as bad as it looks, even though the spill contains heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead and arsenic. Only one of 108 fish died after being placed in cages in the Animas River, and wildlife officials have said there appears to be no danger to animals drinking from the river.

At the same time, the contamination is expected to settle into the sediment, resulting in spikes in the river’s concentration of metals after storms and heavy rainfall, said David Ostrander, the EPA’s unified area command leader in Durango.

“This material that was recently discharged will be stirred up during high rain events or spring runoff and continue to move downstream over time,” Mr. Ostrander said at Tuesday’s press conference.

“The impacts from this initial response will be measured and monitored for a number of years going forward to assess any impacts from this discharge,” he said.

Jonathan Lockwood, head of the free-market group Advancing Colorado, accused environmentalists of hypocrisy, saying they would never attempt to dismiss the impact of contamination caused by corporations.

“When a private company makes a mistake, environmental groups scream bloody murder,” Mr. Lockwood said. “But when the EPA inflicts a dangerous blow to the economy and environment, they try to deflect and dodge the reality and downplay the outrage.”

Ms. Roberts gave the EPA credit for its “forthrightness in admitting responsibility” instead of trying to shift blame elsewhere. The EPA-led crew at the site included agency employees and private contractors.

At the end of the day, however, “The question is, ‘How did the Animas River get that toxic sludge?’” she said. “And the answer to that question is, ‘The EPA put it there.’”


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/12/gold-king-mine-spill-democrats-green-activists-scr/

[Wilikon]

EPA Promises to Work With Navajo Leaders on Toxic Spill – Then Tries to Swindle Them #IndianLivesMatter



The EPA is trying to cheat Navajo Indians by getting them to sign away their rights to future claims from the agency’s Gold King Mine disaster, tribal officials charged Wednesday, adding more to the administration’s public relations problems over the spill that threatens critical Southwest waterways.

Environmental Protection Agency officials were going door to door asking Navajos, some of whom don’t speak English as their primary language, to sign a form that offers to pay damages incurred so far from the spill, but waiving the right to come back and ask for more if their costs escalate or if they discover bigger problems, Navajo President Russell Begaye told The Washington Times.

Mr. Begaye has promised a lawsuit on behalf of the Navajo Nation and said he suspects the EPA is trying to buy off as many Navajo as possible now to head off a bigger settlement later.

The spill has dumped millions of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Animas River, which feeds the San Juan River and eventually the Colorado River, which provide water for grazing and crops in much of the Four Corners area, the quadripoint of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The Navajo Nation covers much of that territory.



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/12/indians-say-epa-trying-swindle-them-mine-spill/

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/08/13/Navajo-Nation-vows-to-sue-EPA-after-toxic-mine-spill/6431439461304/




2015-08-12 Mark Levin on EPA pressuring Indians to sign waivers so they won't sue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbt5Nc8EKBA

[MakingMoneyHoney]

“Blaming the EPA for #AnimasRiver spill is like blaming a doctor for the disease,” Conservation Colorado said in a Wednesday tweet.

How apropos. I wonder if he was making a joke.

[Wilikon]

EPA Contractor Behind CO Mine Spill Got $381 Million From Taxpayers


The EPA may have been trying to hide the identity of the contracting company responsible for causing a major wastewater spill in southern Colorado, but the Wall Street Journal has revealed the company’s identity.

Environmental Restoration (ER) LLC, a Missouri-based firm, was the “contractor whose work caused a mine spill in Colorado that released an estimated 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into a major river system,” the WSJ was told by a source familiar with the matter. The paper also found government documents to corroborate what their source told them.

So far, the EPA has refused to publicly name the contracting company used to plug abandoned mines in southern Colorado, despite numerous attempts by The Daily Caller News Foundation and other media outlets to obtain the information. It’s unclear why the agency chose not to reveal the contractor’s name.

What is clear, however, is that ER has gotten $381 million in government contracts since October 2007, according to a WSJ review of data from USAspending.gov. About $364 million of that funding came from the EPA, but only $37 million was given to ER for work they had done in Colorado.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/12/epa-contractor-behind-co-mine-spill-got-381-million-from-taxpayer/

[username18333]

EPA Contractor Behind CO Mine Spill Got $381 Million From Taxpayers

[...]

(Citation mine.)

The 50 years of war left England in financial ruin. The government officials went begging for loans from guess who, and the deal proposed resulted in a government sanctioned, privately owned bank which could produce money from nothing, essentially legally counterfeiting a national currency for private gain.

Now the politicians had a source from which to borrow all the money they wanted to borrow, and the debt created was secured against public taxes.

You would think someone would have seen through this, and realised they could produce their own money and owe no interest, but instead the Bank of England has been used as a model and now nearly every nation has a Central Bank with fractional reserve banking at its core.

These central banks have the power to take over a nations economy and become that nations real governing force. What we have here is a scam of mammoth proportions covering what is actually a hidden tax, being collected by private concerns.

The country sells bonds to the bank in return for money it cannot raise in taxes. The bonds are paid for by money produced from thin air. The government pays interest on the money it borrowed by borrowing more money in the same way. There is no way this debt can ever be paid, it has and will continue to increase.

If the government did find a way to pay off the debt, the result would be that there would be no bonds to back the currency, so to pay the debt would be to kill the currency.

(Red colorization mine.)

“Tax revenue” is a form of collateral for the loans provided to [at least, national] governments by central banks.

[Wilikon]

America’s Pervasive Indifference Towards Double Standards Will Let the EPA Off the Hook



You could say President Richard Nixon played a role in my very existence.

You could also say the same of Al Capone (no, really!), but that’s another story for another day.

Forty-one years ago this month a group of teens gathered around a TV set at a youth event, watching our 37th president resign from office after the infamous Watergate scandal.

At one point, a seat opened up next to the cute redhead all the girls had been eyeing—and my mom took the chance.


After 35 years of marriage, four kids and two grandkids later, the rest is history.

So yes, you could say President Nixon played a role in my existence … sort of.

But back to Watergate for just a moment, and bear with me while I connect a few historical dots.

Now a presidential candidate herself, Hillary Clinton once launched her legal career as part of the Watergate investigation, and played a role in Nixon’s ultimate demise.

Fast forward nearly half a century, and Clinton’s reckless State Department email trickery make Nixon’s sins look like child’s play. And for anyone else, it would be cause for a swift ticket to federal prison. Yet a combination of Clinton’s political clout and a broad acceptance of double standards will probably guarantee that Clinton gets away with it. With all of it.

Ok, so what do Richard Nixon, Watergate, and Hillary Clinton have to do with the Environmental Protection Agency?

(Other than the fact, incidentally, that Nixon created the EPA.)

Not unlike how Hillary Clinton will probably get away with lying and Nixon didn’t, the double standard that is so pervasive in our political culture will all but guarantee that the EPA gets away with a toxic spill that would probably ruin a private entity.

This isn’t just about the “gotcha” moment. It’s not just about preaching to the choir.

It’s about illuminating the double standard; the “get out of jail free” card that only a chosen few possess.

In what is now a disaster three times as large as originally reported, the EPA is responsible for spilling several million gallons of toxic waste (rife with things like arsenic and mercury at incredibly high levels) into a tributary of the Animas River in Colorado—ultimately exposing residents in three states to “an array of health problems from cancer to kidney disease to developmental problems in children.”

(And this, by the way, is the same agency tasked with enforcing the sweeping climate regulations I wrote about last week. Go figure.)

Sure, there’s been some outcry. However (save for those really paying attention or directly affected) it sure seems like it’s barely news. While the effects of this accident have the potential of being far more detrimental in the long run than say, the BP oil spill, it’s receiving a fraction of the coverage (and a fraction of the outrage).

You see, they’re on the safe side of the double standard.

And, once the river’s yellow hue has fully faded, so will the story. And the EPA will continue on with business as usual—wasting no time in coming down hard on individuals and companies purportedly guilty of environmental sins infinitely smaller by comparison.

It’s a glaring double standard.

Remember when the EPA sued Navistar International Corporation for violating the Clean Air Act in 2010, after Navistar “sold, offered for sale, introduced or delivered engines that did not satisfy emissions standards applicable to model-year 2010 engines”? It could potentially cost the company $37,000 a day, per violation.

Remember when the EPA sued Edge Products for “manufacturing and selling electronic devices that allowed owners of model year 2007 and later diesel pickup trucks to remove emission controls from their vehicles”? That suit sought $500,000 in civil penalties.

Remember when the EPA accused Wyoming welder Andy Johnson of violating the Clean Water Act by building a pond in his back yard? The EPA’s threats in that case included a $75,000 a day fine.

Remember when the EPA tried to subject the Sackett family of Idaho to a similar $75,000 a day fine over claims that the construction of their new home was interfering with wetlands?

I’m not saying that the EPA will face zero blowback over this river spill. At least for now, certain groups plan to file lawsuits (and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time the EPA’s been sued).

The difference, however, is that the EPA has the full force of the federal government behind it.

And unlike the companies and families the EPA has targeted, the EPA doesn’t have to worry about much—regardless of one or a million lawsuits levied against it. (If anything, the unelected agency will grow increasingly stronger as they enforce the president’s sweeping Clean Power regulations.)

Not only is it unlikely that the EPA will experience a taste of its own medicine, but the agency is actually taking an active role in trying to prevent that from happening. Specifically, the agency has tried to coax members of the Navajo Nation to “waive rights to future compensation for damages incurred by the toxic spill.”

In other words, the EPA knows darn well that the spill’s consequences are far from over, despite claims that the river is “back to pre-spill quality.” Waiving rights to future compensation just saves the agency future headaches.

You see, it can do whatever it wants—no consequences—because by virtue of its position as part of the federal government bureaucracy, it’s on the favorable side of the double standard.

After all, what else explains the fact that this agency—whose sole existence is ostensibly to protect the environment—is responsible for an accident that left the riverbeds in three states laced with poisonous toxins like arsenic and lead to be stirred up for years to come, yet it’s hardly a blip on the news cycle?

Imagine for a moment if a private company had caused the spill.

There would be an all-hands-on-deck, full-fledged investigation. Every shred of evidence would be combed through, particularly claims that such a spill would be convenient for “superfund site” designation, and that a leak of precisely this nature would achieve exactly that.

I’m not holding my breath, because on this side of the double standard, you don’t have to answer for your actions outside of a few public appearances and apologies.

Believe it or not, it really does matter. A pervasive, persistent indifference to double standards lets bad behavior keep right on rolling.

I realize I’m not telling most of you something that don’t already know. Yup, there’s double standards in government. (Insert collective snore here.)

So seriously—when are we going to start caring?


http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/americas-pervasive-indifference-towards-double-standards-will-let-the-epa-off-the-hook/

[MakingMoneyHoney]

It's really sick. People will have to pay the piper some day though.

[Shattered]

It's really sick. People will have to pay the piper some day though.

Unfortunately not soon enough....Im really tired of reading horrible stories such as these.
How do certain people come home from "work", kiss their wife and kids, eat a hot GMO dinner, and sleep soundly on their Chinese made mattress at night??

Disgusting on so many levels its simply sad.
Humans are becoming more and more disappointing year after year.

[bryant.coleman]

Todd Hennis (the owner of the Gold King Mine) is claiming that mismanagement in an abandoned mine nearby (Sunnyside mine) is the reason why the spill occurred. And the Sunnyside Gold Corporation (owned by  Kinross Gold) is denying any responsibility for this.

BTW... I don't know whether it is economically feasible to install water treatment facilities at all the abandoned mines. There are a total of 22,000 abandoned mines in the state of Colorado alone, and many of them are leaking acid mine drainage.

[bitcollins85]

The original mining company should be sued if any of it still exists, the EPA was trying to clean the mess they left, mess which would have already spilled long ago without the EPA by the way.

[bryant.coleman]

The original mining company should be sued if any of it still exists, the EPA was trying to clean the mess they left, mess which would have already spilled long ago without the EPA by the way.

I don't know whether that will be right. The mining company was already paying for the cleanup, which was being undertaken by the EPA. And also, the breach happened, after the EPA guys mistakenly drilled a concrete wall, which was holding back large amount of toxic waste. In my opinion, the EPA is solely to blame for this catastrophe.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Navajo Farmers: EPA Sent Us More Contaminated Water

"Update Aug. 18, 11:30 a.m.: The EPA said the water for the Navajo Nation came from nearby Bloomfield and met state and federal quality standards. The trucks came from a division of an Aztec, N.M.-based company, Triple S Trucking, that moves non-potable water. The company also hauls fluids to and from oil fields. KUNM awaits comment from Triple S. "
...
Farmers in Shiprock say the tankers arriving with desperately needed hydration for their crops contained water that smelled like petroleum, was visibly discolored and had an odd sheen to it.

“The barrels are not clean,” said Farm Board Representative Joe Ben Jr. “They are from oil drilling operations.”

The deliveries were intended to help crops that are wilting in the sun after the spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado on Aug. 5 contaminated the San Juan River downstream. Ben halted the distribution of the emergency replacement water. “The EPA has begun to study this water,” he said. “In the meantime, our plants are dying.”.....

[roadbits]

Who is going to fine the EPA? If this was any other company the EPA would fine them to the point that they are out of business. The EPA should do the same to themselves . Oh wait they won't do that.

[Wilikon]

Documents: EPA knew before spill that gold mine was at risk of toxic water 'blowout'



U.S. officials knew of the potential for a catastrophic "blowout" of poisonous wastewater from an inactive gold mine, yet appeared to have only a cursory plan to deal with such an event when a government cleanup team triggered a 3-million-gallon spill, according to internal documents released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA released the documents late Friday following weeks of prodding from The Associated Press and other media organizations. While shedding some light on the circumstances surrounding the accident, the newly disclosed information also raises more questions about whether enough was done to prevent it.

The Aug. 5 spill came as workers excavated the entrance to the idled Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, unleashing a torrent of toxic water that fouled rivers in three states.

A June 2014 work order for a planned cleanup noted the mine had not been accessible since 1995, when the entrance partially collapsed.

"This condition has likely caused impounding of water behind the collapse," the report said. "Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine."

A May 2015 action plan produced by an EPA contractor, Environmental Restoration LLC, also noted the potential for a blowout. It was not clear what additional precautions were taken to prepare for such a release.

Much of the documents were redacted. Among the items blacked out was a line specifying whether workers were required to have phones that could work at the remote site, at an elevation of 11,000 feet.

A 71-page safety plan for the site included only a few lines describing what to do if there was a spill: Locate the source and stop the flow, begin containment and recovery of the spilled materials, and alert downstream drinking water systems as needed.

EPA spokesman David Gray said Saturday that the work order outlined steps that should have been followed, but he did not directly address whether those steps were followed, citing ongoing investigations into the accident.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said after reviewing the documents that she remained frustrated with the EPA's lack of answers.

"The plan indicates there was an understanding of what might happen and what the potential consequences were. We don't know whether they followed the plan," Coffman told The Associated Press. "I want to give the EPA the benefit of the doubt here. I really want to do that. It's getting harder."

The wastewater flowed into a tributary of the Animas and San Juan rivers, turning them a sickly yellow-orange color and tainting them with lead, arsenic, thallium and other heavy metals that can cause health problems and harm aquatic life. The toxic plume traveled roughly 300 miles through Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border.

EPA water testing has shown contamination levels returning to pre-spill levels, though experts warn some of the contaminants likely sunk and mixed with bottom sediments and could someday be stirred back up.

The documents released at about 10:30 p.m. EDT Friday did not account for what happened immediately before or after the spill.

Elected officials have been critical of the EPA's response. Among the unanswered questions is why it took the agency nearly a day to inform downstream communities that rely on the rivers for drinking water.

Coffman criticized the "late Friday night document dump" and said the redaction of key facts would heighten public suspicions. She also indicated that it undercut EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy's statements accepting responsibility.

EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said the agency has been inundated with media inquiries and worked diligently to respond to them. All information must go through a legal review, she added.



http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/08/22/epa-knew-of-blow-out-risk-for-tainted-water-at-gold-mine

[MakingMoneyHoney]

8/21/2015 — EPA delivers Toxic Oil / Fracking water tanks to Navajo Indians for PUBLIC USE

"Being that the EPA was responsible for the release of the toxic water, they are responsible for getting fresh water to the people cut off further down the river.

The American Indian Navajo Nation trusted the EPA / US Government would do the right thing — that the culprits of the spill would be held responsible, and they would bring in fresh water for public use while the whole mess is cleaned up.....

The Navajo Nation received ‘water’ for public use as was promised.

Unfortunately, the water was delivered in USED OIL WELL / FRACKING WASTEWATER TANKS!

Search “Gunbarrel Oil separator tanks” to see many examples.

The “water” sent to the Indian nation for crop, and animal use was literally sent in unwashed oil tanks — still filled partially with petroleum, and toxic chemicals. (This toxic “water” is not even safe to the touch for humans , animals, or plants / crops)".....

[notbatman]

8/21/2015 — EPA delivers Toxic Oil / Fracking water tanks to Navajo Indians for PUBLIC USE

"Being that the EPA was responsible for the release of the toxic water, they are responsible for getting fresh water to the people cut off further down the river.

The American Indian Navajo Nation trusted the EPA / US Government would do the right thing — that the culprits of the spill would be held responsible, and they would bring in fresh water for public use while the whole mess is cleaned up.....

The Navajo Nation received ‘water’ for public use as was promised.

Unfortunately, the water was delivered in USED OIL WELL / FRACKING WASTEWATER TANKS!

Search “Gunbarrel Oil separator tanks” to see many examples.

The “water” sent to the Indian nation for crop, and animal use was literally sent in unwashed oil tanks — still filled partially with petroleum, and toxic chemicals. (This toxic “water” is not even safe to the touch for humans , animals, or plants / crops)".....

Sounds like this is all part of the conspiracy to privatize fresh water sources.


The following is from: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2015/06/20/the-un-is-conquering-america-through-the-control-of-all-water/

"There is a second front which is being used to create an artificial water shortage in the United States. Perrier, a subsidiary of the multi-national Nestle corporation, has invested heavily in Michigan and the Great Lakes. Locked behind two sets of chain link fence, huge siphoning pumps are deliberately hidden from view in the forest. They are pumping the Great Lakes dry and shipping the water overseas. Much of the Great Lakes water is headed for China, filled in massive cargo bags which are pulled across the ocean by a large supertanker."




http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/24/it-is-actually-illegal-in-colorado-to-collect-the-rain-that-falls-on-your-home/

"Do you live in Colorado? Does it rain on your house? Do the drops patter off the roof, compose romantic puddles on your porch?

Guess what: That water isn’t yours. You can’t have it. And you most certainly cannot set out a tank to catch what falls from the sky, you thief."