Oregon Trail Democrats Minutes from Monthly Meeting October 27, 2015

Sunset Room, Clackamas County Bank, Sandy, Oregon

Oregon Trail Democrat's Chair Susan Gates called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. PDT

Introductions

Julia Degraw, Northwest Senior Organizer for Food and Waterwatch, a national organization, and Aurora Del Val, representing the brand new Local Water Alliance in Hood River County www.localwateralliance.org are speaking about the effort to keep Nestlé Corporation from opening a water bottling plant in Cascade Locks.

Minutes: The minutes for the September 22, 2015 meeting were sent out and as there were no additions or corrections, stand as printed.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Sannye Phillips reported that our beginning balance as of 9/22/2015 was $1,098.99. Income includes $40 for 2 membership renewals and a $100 refund from the city of Sandy for the OTD picnic gazebo rental. There were no new expenses. Our current balance as of 10/27/15 is $1,238.99.

You can renew your membership or become a member of the Oregon Trail Democrats by clicking on our web site: www.oregontraildemocrats.org A reminder: these dues allow us to help Democratic candidates and participate in community activities. If you want to know if your membership dues are current, please check with Susan Gates:

Our Facebook page is here and is being updated regularly by Jan Smith: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oregon-Trail-Democrats/131416233561434

Special Guest Speakers:

Food and Waterwatch's Julia Degraw provided some background on Nestlé's worldwide activities in opening bottling plants and pushing to privatize public water supplies. They are very active in the Great Lakes region, in the arid southwest, and have been pushing to continue bottling water in California despite the drought. The Mt. Shasta town of McCloud successfully prevented Nestlé from opening a bottling plant there because California requires an environmental review; there is no such review requirement in Oregon. Despite Oregon Governor Kate Brown declaring drought emergencies this year in 23 of 26 Oregon counties, she has not taken a position on Nestlé's seven year effort in Cascade Locks to open the plant.

Nestlé has proposed to bottle over 100 million gallons of water per year from Oxbow Springs, which is a publicly-owned water source in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The accompanying bottling plant would be built in the city of Cascade Locks and would strain existing water and transportation infrastructure, requiring millions of dollars of upgrades to be paid not by Nestlé but by local taxpayers.

Despite this, and the 200 semi-truck trips through town every day, city officials support the proposal based on Nestlé's promise of up to 50 new jobs; however, management of the plant would come from outside the state and 25 or less permanent local jobs are typical.

The Cascade Locks City Council has approved the plan, butthe deal requires the state's consent because the city doesn't own water rights at the spring.

The city and the company are halfway through the process of obtaining consent. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has agreed to trade a portion of its water right at Oxbow Springs to Cascade Locks in exchange for an equal portion of the city's municipal supply.

Cascade Locks would then sell the spring water to Nestle as a municipal water customer. The company is expected to get a discount from the rate Cascade Locks residents pay.

By purchasing water from Cascade Locks, the city would be liable for any damages done by Nestlé. The swap can only happen with the Oregon Water Resources Department's approval. Water department staff are reviewing the proposal before making a decision.

Along with a proposed ballot measure, the local tribes have begun to weigh in as the proposal by Nestlé violates treaty rights. Clackamas County citizens won't be voting on the ballot measure, but can comment to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioners. Contact them through their web site here: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/

To keep informed on this issue, please visit the Keep Nestle Out blog here: https://keepnestleout.wordpress.com/

Aurora Del Val explained that The Local Water Alliance is a group of residents from Hood River, calling for the people to decide on the proposed Nestlé bottling plant. Members of the Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge coalition include Food & Water Watch and Bark. The Local Water Alliance has filed a ballot measure petition that would amend Hood River County’s Charter to prohibit commercial bottled water production in Hood River County.

Aurora spoke as a local Cascade Locks' resident who has with her husband Ed (a chief petitioner of the ballot measure), become local activists to keep Nestlé from opening the plant. She has seen the Cascade Locks' community become increasingly skeptical of the PR snow job that Nestlé has been doing there. The promise of "jobs" is elusory, but the harm of drawing water from Oxbow Springs, which currently helps keep temperatures cooler for Columbia River salmon, is very real. The petitioners hope that the ballot measure will be successful and put pressure on government officials who will be approving or disapproving Nestlé's proposal.

Unfinished/ongoing Business:

OTD Picnic Photos: Our thanks to Walt Trandum and Ken Humberston for taking photos of this event and to Doug Saldivar for posting them on our web site.

Neighborhood Leader Program: Peter Nordbye, who heads the Neighborhood Leader Program of Clackamas County, reported that there would be a major effort to recruit more Neighborhood leaders after the holidays. He would like us to consider who we know who might be interested.

Road Clean up: We'll be cleaning our portion of Orient Drive (between Kelso and Compton Roads) Saturday, November 7th. We will meet at Marcia and Greg Brown's home at 13651 SE Orient Drive around 9:30 a.m. for coffee and treats, have a brief safety talk prior to starting, and pick up trash along the roadsides with bags and grabbers provided by ODOT. Anyone who hasn't participated will need to sign a form that ODOT requires. Please contact Walt Trandum at if you need to sign the form.

OTD Holiday Party: Once again Beverly and Mike Persons have offered to host our annual event at their home near Bluff Road. The date will be Sunday, Dec 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. Please bring a dish to share.

New Business:

Congratulations to Peter Nordbye, the newly elected as Vice Chair of the Clackamas County Democratic Party at the Central Committee meeting this month.

Many thanks to Susan Gates, Marcia Brown, Gloria Bean and Walt Trandum for providing treats for the Central Committee meeting.

The Clackamas County Democratic Party Roosevelt Dinner, which is the main fundraising event of the Clackamas County Democrats, will be held Saturday, Nov 7 at 5:30 pm at the Lake Oswego Country Club. Guest speaker will be Governor Kate Brown!

Wines worth $25 and up are needed for the "Wall of Wine" main fundraising effort. The Oregon Trail Democrats have been well represented at these dinners; we have 18 people signed up thus far.

Click through here to sign up: http://www.clackamasdems.org/

Announcements, Good of the Order:

A motion was made by Sannye Phillips that the Oregon Trail Democrats endorse Hood River County's #1455 ballot referendum that would legally prohibit commercial bottled water operations in their county; second by Ron Partlow. The motion carried unanimously.

Sannye reported that OTD member Linda Layne is recovering from surgery for cancer of the jaw and is in a care facility. You can contact her through husband Tom Layne: If you want to send a card, her address is: Linda Layne, Village Healthcare, 3955 SE 182nd; Gresham OR 97030

Peter Nordbye announced that A Better Oregon is circulating a petition for a 2016 ballot measure to increase the corporate minimum tax for businesses whose Oregon sales exceed $25 million each year. You can sign this petition here: http://abetteroregon.org/

Dennis Ghelfi announced a Town Hall on ‘Natural Resources’ set for Oct. 28 in Welches. Susan Gates will put an e-mail out about this.

The Hood River Democrats are holding monthly meetings.

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Thanks to Jan and Greg Smith, and Norm Trost for providing treats, and Susan Gates for coffee & tea set up.

Meeting Adjourned by Chair Susan Gates at 8:25 p.m.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 7 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Anderson

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