Our stolen victory

  Nestlé and its successor BlueTriton have been illegally removing water from a US national park for nearly 100 years. Tell the US Forest Service to kick the bottled water company off of public lands now. [ Sign the petitionÂ]( {NAME}, We celebrated a huge victory last year when California water officials ordered bottled water giant BlueTriton to stop draining over 50 million gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest in California. But that victory was just taken away from us by a California judge who recently ruled that BlueTriton can continue extracting water from the national forest after all. Now the best way to fight back and protect the people’s water from corporate greed is to convince the US Forest Service to kick the bottled water company out of the publicly-owned San Bernardino National Forest. We’ll be hand-delivering the petition to the US Forest Service next week, but support from the entire Ekō community is needed to ensure the delivery is a success. [Sign the petition now to demand that the US Forest Service deny BlueTriton’s permit to occupy public lands with their water extraction infrastructure.]( BlueTriton, and Nestlé before them, spent nearly 100 years hoodwinking regulators – taking water to which they had no lawful right. But we didn’t have the proof we needed to stop the corporate water grab until a local activist searched government archives, gathered news articles, and ultimately found the original notes of the surveyor who identified the springs. This vital evidence was presented in hearings that went on for two years thanks to BlueTriton’s stall tactics. Every time we thought we were close to a final decision, we faced more delays. But thanks to our intense digital ads campaign, thousands of emails and calls from Ekō members, and the incredible work of our partners, the California Water Board finally did the right thing. Unfortunately, BlueTriton sued the California Water Board instead of complying with the ruling. And the judge in the case sided with BlueTriton. This is a devastating blow, but we must keep fighting.We must convince the US Forest Service to deny BlueTriton’s permit for building and maintaining water extraction infrastructure in the San Bernardino National Forest. Without permission to occupy public lands with tunnels, boreholes, and pipelines, there would be no way for BlueTriton to get the water it’s stealing to the bottling plant. The company would be forced to shut down operations. [Add your name to show Forest Service Chief Randy Moore that we won’t rest until BlueTriton is out of the San Bernardino National Forest once and for all.]( The Ekō community has been working with partners for eight years to stop corporations from draining water away from the San Bernardino National Forest. And even though the odds were against us, we convinced the California Water Board to do the right thing. Now we need to work that same magic on the US Forest Service. [ Sign the petitionÂ]( Thanks for all that you do, Lacey and the team at Ekō More information: [California may limit how much company behind Arrowhead bottled water can draw from mountain springs]( AP News. 19 September 2023. [A bitter feud centers on source of Arrowhead bottled water]( Los Angeles Times. 20 January 2022. [Drought-hit California moves to halt Nestlé from taking millions of gallons of water]( The Guardian. 27 April 2021. [Nestlé doesn't have valid rights to water it's been bottling, California officials say]( Desert Sun. 23 April 2021. [BlueTriton to Keep Diverting California Water as Motion Granted]( Bloomberg Law. 25 January 2023.     --------------------------------------------------------------- Ekō is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when they don’t. Please help keep Ekō strong by chipping in $3 [Chip in $3]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. | [Unsubscribe](   --------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Us On Social Media [Facebok]( [Instagram]( [Youtube](Eko.Movement) [Twitter]( [TikTok](eko.movement) [Telegram](