CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. (AP) — Even many of its residents quickly concede that Cascade Locks east of Portland is a dying little town.
Many hope jobs form a proposed tribal casino will pull the Columbia River town out of its dive. Failing that, Nestle Waters North America would like to stick a straw in a nearby spring and draw 100 million gallons a year to fill plastic bottles of Arrowhead and Pure Life water.
Last summer Enumclaw, Wash. turned down a similar proposal and Nestle dropped plans for similar projects in two other Washington towns, citing logistics.
But the Cascade Locks proposal has some local support. Into the 1970s the town had nearly 90 businesses. Now about 12 are left. Hydroelectric projects and freeway construction dried up. People gradually left, and those remaining often have to go to Hood River or beyond for basic services and work.
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The spring rises from three wooded spots above a state fish hatchery.
The proposed $50 million plant would nearly double property tax collections in the town of 1,050, boost water revenues and add 45 jobs in a town short on jobs and long on vacant lots.
"My first thought was, 'Wonderful,'" City Administrator Bernard Seeger told The Oregonian. "There's no crime at a bottling plant, there's no barking dogs, and we get 76 inches of rain a year. Water, we've got plenty of."
Nestle must show that its withdrawals won't tap out the spring or city wells that would be used to replace spring water.
The plant faces at least one vocal local opponent and faces national resistance from Food and Water Watch, a consumer group opposed to bottled water in general and Nestle's tactics in particular.
"Nestle's MO is to target small, struggling communities that have lost their resource base and make them a deal it appears they can't refuse," said Richard McIntyre, a consultant to Nestle opponents in Colorado.
"They don't tell you that most of the jobs are $10 an hour, or that you're going to have trucks running through your community 24/7."
Nestle would build the plant on about 25 acres of industrially zoned land in the town 45 miles east of Portland.
The plant would pipe in just over 300 gallons per minute. State fish and wildlife officials say at its lowest point the spring runs about 675 gallons a minute.
The city has about 4,000 gallons per minute of undeveloped water rights at a different location.
If approved, Nestle would buy the water at city rates, about a fifth of a cent a gallon. At 24-pack sizes, Arrowhead bottled spring water sells for roughly $1.40 a gallon.
"It costs about $50 million to build a plant like this," said Dave Palais, a Nestle natural resource manager. "We want to make sure the spring is protected and maintained in a suitable way."
Nestle has 26 spring-fed bottling plants in the United States and Canada, but none in the Northwest. It pledges to pay above the regional median wage.
Nestle says that zero-calorie bottled water is healthier than high-calorie bottled drinks and says it will cut the amount of plastic in its bottles and try to use recycled plastic.
This doesn't wash with Mark Schlosberg, western regional director for Food and Water Watch, who calls bottled water "a massive consumer ripoff."
Pumping can deplete water levels, few of the bottles are recycled and the bottling plants are not the economic engine that communities hope for, Schlosberg said.
"We need to be focusing on improving our water infrastructure and making sure everybody has access to affordable, clean water," he said.
Local opponent Katelin Stuart says the green argument may lack punch in blue-collar Cascade Locks but says she hears worries about trucks, as many as 110 a day, that the plant could draw.
City Council member Tiffany Pruit, who opposes the casino, said she wants to be cautious.
"Giving away water rights is a really scary thing, because they're not recoupable," she said.
Mayor Brad Lorang says revenue from the plant would energize plans to revamp downtown and provide in-town job possibilities.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com