"Nestlé: Draining America Bottle By Bottle"

"Madison, Florida -- It takes a smart and politically well-connected company like Nestlé to get a drought-stricken state like Florida to give it tens of millions of dollars worth of water to resell at enormous profits to its neighbors in states like the Carolinas and Georgia.

For Nestlé, finding new sources of fresh spring water and securing the right to pump the water requires political influence: the ability to secure support with high-level state and local officials. Nestlé, like other large corporations, believes residents see dollar signs when they hear a large corporation is coming to their town. They often use local residents as straw men to keep the cost of expansion cheaper, all the while extracting tax and water pumping concessions by promising good paying jobs."

Joseph Trento reports for Washington Bureau July 20, 3009.