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submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The bottled-water company last year tried to kill legislation aimed at protecting aquifers at a time when many are at risk nationally.

Maine’s Legislature voted down a bill that would have limited large-scale pumping of groundwater in the state. Poland Spring, the bottled-water giant, had lobbied aggressively against the measure.

The proposal would have placed a 10-year limit on large-scale water-extraction contracts, a restriction that the bill’s supporters said would protect Maine’s precious groundwater at a time when water levels are falling across the country. It failed to pass on Thursday by a 21-to-12 vote in the State Senate.

Poland Spring, a major presence in Maine, draws water from eight locations around the state to bottle and sell. It is trying to lock in a new contract of up to 45 years to pump water in Lincoln, a former mill town.

BlueTriton — which owns Poland Spring and other major bottled-water brands, including Arrowhead and Deer Park — lobbied against the changes. Last year, The New York Times reported that the company wrote, and circulated among legislators, a proposed amendment that would have gutted the bill.

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[-] anonionfinelyminced@kbin.social 27 points 9 months ago

In a year or ten hence, the people that voted against this will turn their taps and get nothing but brown sludge, then howl "why isn't the government doing something about this?!?!?"

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml -1 points 9 months ago

How many of them are even going to be alive in ten years?

this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024
82 points (98.8% liked)

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