Don't bottle the Skagit River

Mayor Dean Maxwell of Anacortes is pushing through a deal to sell five million gallons of municipal water per day from the Skagit River through the year 2040 with extensions through 2050 to Tethys Enterprises, Inc. This ill-proposed one million square foot plant would be the largest bottled water/beverage and food manufacturing plant in the United States. Although citizens personally requested a public hearing before the signing of the contract, Mayor Dean Maxwell turned them down. The people have been given no input on this issue. Please oppose this plant.

The water of the Skagit River belongs to the public, not to the city of Anacortes. It should not be sold to the highest bidder.

This contract does not take into account projections of Anacortes' future water needs, nor does it take into account the effect global warming is having and will continue to have on the Skagit River, i.e. increasing the likelihood of floods and decreasing its flow in the summertime. Will the people of Anacortes and the rest of the Skagit Valley have enough water in the future after Tethys gets its five million gallons?

The plant will produce huge amounts of plastic waste, which will massively impact the environment. It will also add huge amounts of wastewater, which in addition to negatively impacting the environment will require an expansion of Anacortes' wastewater plant, the cost of which is not included in the contract with Tethys.

According to Matt Kelly of Tethys, the plant will increase rail traffic by 400 rail cars a day – four unit trains–and may affect access to the Skagit Airport and other businesses on that side of State Route 20. These will add tremendously to the air and noise pollution and traffic congestion of the area.

The contract with Tethys does not guarantee jobs from the water plant for local citizens, and what jobs it would bring are not worth the environmental impacts of the plant.

At a time when we are struggling with global climate change and environmental degradation, it would be irresponsible and enormously counterproductive to add wastewater pollution and plastic pollution from the manufacturing, and the noise pollution, traffic congestion, and train diesel exhaust pollution that will be produced from the operation of this water plant. Not to mention how it will encourage the continued use of bottled water which involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels for production and transportation of the product and contributes tremendously to our garbage stream since 86% of plastic water bottles used in the U.S. become garbage or litter. Please stop this plant from becoming a reality.

Please contact Mayor Maxwell, your legislators, and Governor Gregoire about this issue. Thanks.

Mayor Dean Maxwell
P.O. Box 547
904 6th Street
Anacortes, WA 98221
(360) 299-1950
(360) 293-1938 – fax
[email protected]

to find your WA state legislator:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/

Governor Gregoire:
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
360-902-4111
http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/

Sources:
1. Address to Anacortes City Council
By Steve Winter, CEO, Tethys Enterprises
September 13, 2010
2. Request to the City of Anacortes for extension of their water contract
By Steve Winter, CEO, Tethys Enterprises
August 29, 2011
3. Economic & Fiscal Benefits Memorandum: economic and fiscal effects of a bottling facility in Skagit County
By E.D. Hovee & Company, LLD
May 31, 2011
4. City of Anacortes, Washington and Tethys Enterprises, Inc. Agreement Regarding Water Service
October 1, 2010
5. Bottle the Skagit River?
By Defending Water in the Skagit River Basin: Sandra Spargo
http://readthedirt.org/2012/02/10/bottle-the-skagit-river/
February 10, 2012