December, 08 2015, 01:30pm EDT
![Food & Water Watch](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012658/origin.jpg)
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Email:,info(at)fwwatch(dot)org,Seth Gladstone -,sgladstone@fwwatch.org
Precedent-setting Campaign to Block Nestle and Others from Bottling Water in Oregon County Submits Three Times the Number of Signatures Needed to Qualify for Ballot
Residents of this picturesque Columbia River Gorge county this week submitted three times as many signatures as they need to qualify for the ballot an initiative that would block corporate behemoth, Nestle, from bottling and selling their precious public water. The precedent-setting local ballot measure would block Nestle's proposed water bottling plant in the Gorge and prohibit commercial water bottling in Hood River County.
Hood River County, Ore.
Residents of this picturesque Columbia River Gorge county this week submitted three times as many signatures as they need to qualify for the ballot an initiative that would block corporate behemoth, Nestle, from bottling and selling their precious public water. The precedent-setting local ballot measure would block Nestle's proposed water bottling plant in the Gorge and prohibit commercial water bottling in Hood River County.
Local Water Alliance (LWA), the grassroots group spearheading the campaign, collected more than 1,600 signatures in just over a month, making it virtually certain that the county will verify the 497 signatures needed to send the Hood River Water Protection Measure to county voters.
"It has been fantastic to see all the support for this measure from people across the political spectrum," said Aurora del Val, Campaign Director for Local Water Alliance. "We considered gathering even more signatures, but we think voters want to make their opinions known as soon as possible."
While locals have long been concerned about Nestle's proposal to set up shop in the small city of Cascade Locks and bottle more than 200 million gallons of water each year, they really mobilized over the summer, when Governor Kate Brown declared drought emergencies in dozens of Oregon counties, including Hood River County.
"Our entire economy relies heavily on water," said del Val who lives in Cascade Locks. "Passing this initiative means standing up and saying that Hood River County isn't willing to give away the future of our water security. It means showing that we won't risk our entire future for the small number of jobs Nestle could create at a highly automated bottling plant. We can do better for our community. We don't need Nestle here."
Hood River business owner Michael Barthmus agrees. "It was an easy petition to get people to sign because most people understand that water is a resource and basic human need, and not a commodity to be exploited. Shipping water outside of our county seems like poor stewardship, especially during a time of shortage and droughts. Our families, farms and the fish in our rivers should be our top priority."
The initiative in Hood River County is the first of its kind and has captured attention across the county and around the world for its potential to become a model for other communities that want to protect local water from being bottled by multinational corporations that, like Nestle, have terrible track records around the globe.
The communities we work with all over the United States are watching what's happening in Hood River County, Oregon," said Julia DeGraw, Northwest organizer for Food & Water Watch. "These local residents are an inspiration to everyone fighting to protect their water supplies from becoming commodities for profit-driven corporations like Nestle. The public energy behind this precedent-setting campaign is truly impressive."
"Across the globe, communities and consumers are coming together to protect local water resources from being exploited by companies like Nestle. More than 156,000 people around the world are standing with Hood River County in this fight to protect their water," explained Nicole Carty, US campaigner for SumOfUs.org. "Should this initiative be successful, the effects could be game changing: This legislation could serve as a national benchmark and a crucial model to any region looking to keep its natural resources out of the reach of Big Bottled Water.
The local election officials in Hood River County will verify the signatures; campaigners expect official confirmation by the end of the week that the measure has qualified for the ballot.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
As Debate Fallout Continues, Biden Says Nobody 'Pushing Me Out'
The president's message comes as a second Democrat in Congress suggested that he should exit the race.
Jul 03, 2024
"I'm running," declared the subject line of a fundraising email that U.S. President Joe Biden sent on Wednesday as the Democrat's reelection campaign sought to combat the criticism that has mounted since his poor debate performance last week.
"I'm the Democratic Party's nominee. No one is pushing me out. I'm not leaving, I'm in this race to the end,
and WE are going to win this election," wrote Biden, who won't be the official nominee until the convention next month. "I've been knocked down and counted out my whole life. I'm sure the same is true for many of you."
After quoting his father—who supposedly used to say: "Champ, it's not how many times you get knocked down. It's how quickly you get up."—Biden expressed confidence that he and Vice President Kamala Harris will beat the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, in November, as they did in 2020.
However, recent polls and reporting suggest that Democratic voters and elected officials are less confident post-debate—particularly given the stakes, with Trump emboldened by a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling, pledging to be a dictator on "day one," and expected to pursue the far-right's Project 2025 policy agenda.
Since the debate, multiple political commentators have called for replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate. On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democrat in Congress to call on the president to withdraw from the race, saying that he "saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2021. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024."
In a Wednesday interview with The New York Times, Congressman RaĂşl Grijalva of Arizona became the second.
"If he's the candidate, I'm going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere," Grijalva said. "What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat—and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race."
As Reutersreported Tuesday:
There are 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives preparing to call for Biden to step aside if he seems shaky in coming days, according to one House Democratic aide.
A second House Democratic aide said moderate House Democrats in competitive districts—often called "frontliners"—were getting hammered with questions in their districts this week.
Democratic Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) and Jared Golden (Maine)—Blue Dog Coalition co-chairs who, as the Timesnoted, are both "facing challenging reelection races in rural districts"—have not called on Biden to bow out of the contest but separately suggested this week that he is going to lose to Trump in November.
In addition to insisting that he is still running in the email to supporters, Biden on Wednesday "unexpectedly joined a Zoom call" with campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC) staff, according toPolitico.
Citing two people on the call who were granted anonymity, the outlet detailed:
"Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can—as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running... no one's pushing me out. I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win," Biden said on the call.
Biden's forcefulness and resolve, especially compared to how he came across during last week's debate, was as reassuring to several attendees, who discussed the call afterward via text message, as what he said.
...Harris, whose profile has risen in recent days as Democrats focus on her with new seriousness as a possible replacement atop the ticket, was seated beside Biden on the video call.
"We will not back down," Harris said. "We will follow our president's lead. We will fight, and we will win."
Several names have been floated as possible replacements if the president does decide to end his campaign—including the Democratic governors of California, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—but Reutersspoke with seven unnamed sources at the Biden campaign, DNC, and White House who all agreed that Harris is the top alternative.
While Harris' aides have so far publicly dismissed such a scenario, party donors and insiders—such as Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo and Donna Brazile, the former interim DNC—also told the news agency that should Biden decide against seeking a second term, it would make sense for the vice president to step in.
Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn (S.C.), a key Biden ally, has reaffirmed his support for the president since the debate but also made clear that he would back Harris if Biden exited the race.
According to the Times, which also gave anonymity to its sources:
Mr. Biden's allies said that the president had privately acknowledged that his next few appearances heading into the July 4 holiday weekend must go well, particularly an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
"He knows if he has two more events like that, we're in a different place" by the end of the weekend, said one of the allies, referring to Mr. Biden's halting and unfocused performance in the debate. That person, who talked to the president in the past 24 hours, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed during Wednesday's briefing that Biden isn't dropping out and rejected the Times reporting, saying, "That is absolutely false."
New national polling of likely voters from the Times and Siena College shows Trump beating Biden 49% to 43%, a three-point shift in the GOP's favor since before the debate. Polling published Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal similarly has Trump leading Biden 48% to 42%.
Survey results released Wednesday by CBS News feature a smaller margin but still favor the Republican: "Trump now has a three-point edge over President Biden across the battleground states collectively, and a two-point edge nationally."
Polling released Tuesday suggests Harris may do better against Trump. CNNfound that while Trump beats Biden 49% to 43%, the former president only leads Harris by two points, 47% to 45%.
The voters surveyed by Ipsos were split, with 40% supporting Trump and the same share backing Biden. In the Trump-Harris matchup, the split was 42% to 43% in the Republican's favor.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Only One Path': Naomi Klein Says French Must Rally Around Left Coalition to Avert Fascism
"History tells us that fascism wins when anti-fascist forces refuse to come together to defeat it, with the center fearing a strong left committed to redistribution more than the cruelties of the extreme right."
Jul 03, 2024
Renowned Canadian author, activist, and filmmaker Noami Klein on Wednesday implored French President Emmanuel Macron to "get out of the way" while urging voters in France to rally behind the left-of-center New Popular Front coalition that analysts say represents the last hope to stop Marine Le Pen's fascist National Rally from taking power.
"There is only one path for French voters to stop the extreme racist right, whose rise has been aided and abetted at every stage by corporatist centrists led by Macron," Klein said on social media. "That path is to support the New Popular Front, running a close second in the polls."
Le Pen's viciously xenophobic National Rally (RN) triumphed in the first round of last week's French elections, winning 33.2% of the vote. New Popular Front (NFP)—an alliance of center-left parties formed last month to thwart a fascist takeover after Macron called snap elections—came in second, with 28%.
Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition finished third with 22.4% of the vote. Critics accused the embattled president of grossly miscalculating support for the far-right.
Leaders of Macron's coalition and the NFP have been scrambling to stymie an RN victory in Sunday's final runoff round, saying they would withdraw candidates from races in districts where other RN opponents have better chances of winning. However, some centrists are more comfortable with far-right rule than they are with progressive left policies, and that worries Klein.
"History tells us that fascism wins when anti-fascist forces refuse to come together to defeat it, with the center fearing a strong left committed to redistribution more than the cruelties of the extreme right," she said. "The NPF has shown that it understands this terrible lesson of European history. It deserves the support of French voters."
"Macron, who created this crisis with years of uninterrupted arrogance, needs to get out of the way," she added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Arizonans Submit Over Double the Signatures Needed for Abortion Ballot Measure
"The enthusiasm we've seen from Arizona voters for this constitutional amendment is unprecedented, and we're ready to stand with them through Election Day and restore the reproductive freedom they deserve."
Jul 03, 2024
Campaigners on Wednesday turned in 823,685 signatures—more than double the 383,923 required—to the Arizona secretary of state's office to get a proposed state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on the November ballot.
"What we're turning in is a show of strength of the campaign, but also strength of the issue of protecting abortion," said Chris Love, a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access. "And I'm confident that we will obviously appear on the ballot, but more importantly, I'm confident that we'll win in November."
County election officials and Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes will now work on reviewing the signatures and formally certifying the ballot measure by late next month.
Arizona for Abortion Access campaign manager Cheryl Bruce declared that "this is the most signatures ever gathered for a ballot measure in Arizona history, which is a testament to the broad support among Arizona voters for restoring and protecting abortion access in Arizona."
"An astonishing signature collection effort from volunteers, organizers, advocates, patients, and providers in Arizona has made this moment possible."
The Arizona Republicreported that "the secretary of state does not keep data that would easily confirm the number of signatures is the most in state history," but "the number far outpaces that of popular petition campaigns in recent years."
Fontes' office does publish voter registration data. As of April, there were 4,058,320 registered voters—meaning more than 1 in 5 signed their names in support of the abortion rights campaign, which is backed by groups including the ACLU of Arizona, the Fairness Project, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, and Reproductive Freedom for All Arizona.
"An astonishing signature collection effort from volunteers, organizers, advocates, patients, and providers in Arizona has made this moment possible, and we're thrilled to be part of it," said Fairness Project executive director Kelly Hall in a statement.
"While extreme politicians in Phoenix have allowed a 15-week abortion ban to block patients from getting the care they need, the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign has worked tirelessly to let voters have a say in their own healthcare decisions," she continued. "The enthusiasm we've seen from Arizona voters for this constitutional amendment is unprecedented, and we're ready to stand with them through Election Day and restore the reproductive freedom they deserve."
The effort to pass the Arizona Abortion Access Act began last summer—before a nationally watched legal battle earlier this year: The Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 1864 abortion ban that included no exceptions for rape or incest, then the Arizona Legislature passed and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill to repeal it.
Still, in addition to banning abortion after 15 weeks, Arizona has rules that make it harder to get care. The proposed amendment would affirm a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability and limit state restrictions. It would also protect access to care after viability if a healthcare provider determines ending a pregnancy is needed for the patient's life or health.
Reproductive freedom has been a key issue at all levels of American politics since the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority reversedRoe v. Wade with their Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling two years ago, which bolstered GOP efforts to attack access to abortion care—along with birth control.
It remains a top issue going into the November election. Along with choosing which party controls the White House and Congress, voters in several states are set to weigh in on ballot measures designed to protect reproductive rights. The Associated Presspublished a graphic showing the states where such measures are on the ballot pending:
"Supporters of an Arkansas proposal to scale back the state's abortion ban face a Friday deadline to submit petitions to qualify for the November ballot," according to the AP. "The group behind the measure, Arkansans for Limited Government, said on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday that it still needed 8,200 signatures out of the 90,704 required."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular