« Ind. Decisions - Upcoming oral arguments this week | Main | Courts - "For the elite of the Supreme Court Bar, this is the Gilded Age. Or call it the Age of the Guild" »

Monday, October 22, 2007

Environment - Canadian company mining Indiana aquifer

The Diane Rehm Show on NPR today focuses on:

U.S. Weather Patterns and Drought: Severe drought conditions in several southern states and in large areas of the west are prompting new concerns about possible water shortages. An update U.S. weather patterns and water management policies.
The report goes far beyond the bare description. There is much discussion on how water supplies cannot be taken granted anymore anywhere in the country. There is discussion about how Canada does not allow its water to be shipped to the U.S.

While listening to the show, which is available here, I was reminded of this story in a number of papers last week, including the Rensselaer Republican:

KENTLAND - Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs announced it will locate a new water bottling operation in Kentland - creating up to 100 new jobs.

The Ontario-based bottler will invest more than $20 million to build and equip a 273,000 square-foot production and distribution center in the town’s industrial park where it will manufacture and fill plastic bottles with water from a nearby spring. * * *

“The Town of Kentland is very pleased that Ice River Springs made Kentland Indiana their choice in site location for their new water bottling facility,” said Dave Smart, Kentland Town Council President. “We believe they will be a great Corporate Citizen and we are excited at the opportunity to be working with them. The team efforts of our board, the Newton County Economic Development Commission, Kentland Bank and the State of Indiana proved to be successful in winning this economic development project. This is a wonderful example of what can happen when business, state, county and local government can work together.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Ice River Springs up to $410,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $36,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. The state will also provide the Town of Kentland with a grant of up to $47,000 to assist in off-site infrastructure improvements needed for the project. The Town of Kentland will provide Ice River Springs with property tax abatement. The Newton County Economic Development Commission assisted in the effort.

Here is the Oct. 16th Indianapolis Star report, which begins:
Kentland doesn't have an Ice River, but it's near a natural spring that will help produce jobs in northwest Indiana.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced today that Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs will build a 273,000 square-foot production and distribution center in the town’s industrial park.

The $20 million investment in Newton County will create up to 100 new jobs. It opens in 2008.

No talk here of water management policies. The day may soon be past, and perhaps it should be already, when a community will so eagerly, and with the help of the state administration, sell off the rights to draw down its aquifer for the promise of 100 jobs.

It would be interesting to learn the details of this "deal."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 22, 2007 10:50 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana economic development