THE TIME IS NOW. TAKE ACTION. Flow for Water and the Michigan Public Trust Coalition, representing over a dozen Michigan, Regional, and National Non Profit organizations, collectively with more than ___ members, has joined together to educate citizens, leaders, and the public about the public trust and House Bill 5319, drafted by Rep. Dan Scripps, and supported by many other legislators, pending in the Michigan House of Representatives. We are Water. Water is Us. We must act together, each of us a drop conjoining a powerful flow to preserve and sustain water for all people in Michigan and the Great Lakes Basin, present and future generations.
SPEAK UP, WRITE, DEMAND THAT OUR WATER REMAINS FREE from special interests who want to claim it for their own and sell it elsewhere,. export it without paying a penny. No one owns the water. It belongs to all of us in common. We all depend on water for jobs, livelihood, health, recreation, food -- all of us share in our use of water -- private landowner, lake owners, river owners, farmers, manufacturers, skiers, boaters, sailors, canoeists, gardeners, resort operators, golf course owners and golfers, towns and cities, schools and universities, the animals and plants that surround us, the list goes on and on.
TAKE ACTION NOW TO DISPEL LIES BEING CIRCULATED ABOUT PUBLIC TRUST AND HOUSE BILL 5319. People who don’t have Michigan’s best interests at heart are lying to the press, framing the public trust bill as a "tax" on water or a takings of private ownership of water. No one owns groundwater or our lakes and streams. If they did, it would be property, and subject to tax under our property tax laws! Water is a flowing, moving commons held by the state on behalf of the citizens and people who live and work here. The fear mongering by those who gain to profit off our water is a narrow, self-interest minority that would ruin the rights and uses of all of us. These narrow interests want our water for free to be bought and sold like sand, gravel, and oil, as an export, to anyone, anywhere in the world.
The truth is landowners do not own our groundwater, it belongs to no one. This has been the law in Michigan and elsewhere in the U.S. for centuries. The only way to keep water from being exported and controlled by those outside of Michigan is to affirm water is ours forever. This is all House Bill 5319 does. The bill has nothing to do with our right as individuals and landowners, farmers, businesses to use water reasonably as part of the commons. The public trust would only prevent those who are not part of our commons from shipping and selling it elsewhere for personal gain, so all of our private and public uses we share as a commons are protected.
TAKE ACTION NOW TO EDUCATE OUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES that protecting the Public Trust for Water is critical for everyone.
FIRST, SEND LETTER TO EDITOR WITH THE ABOVE MESSAGE AND THOSE POINTS NOTED BELOW.
SECOND, CONTACT YOUR STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR BY EMAIL, LETTER, FAX, OR PHONE CALL.
Tell them that you are passionate about protecting our water resources for future generations and that you support HB 5319 to place Michigan’s water in the public trust. Find your House Representative’s contact information here: http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp . Find your Senator's contact information here: http://senate.michigan,gov/find_a_sen.asp. Go here to read HB 5319: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(Su2zko3mo4u55cvqk1wakzmmh))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectName=2009-HB-5319.
HB 5319 IS NOT A TAX BILL.! IT IS THE OPPOSITE. THERE'S NOT A WORD REMOTELY TOUCHING ON TAXES. IT IS NOT AN ANTI-BOTTLED WATER BILL (IF SMALL CONTAINERS OF WATER ARE REMOVED LAWFULLY UNDER THE COMMON LAW AND WITH PROPER AUTHORITY FROM CITIZENS THROUGH OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS). IT DOES NOT AFFECT the private use or public use by those who own property, businesses, farms, wineries, cottages, homes. The public trust protects our Great Lakes, lakes, and streams, and this must include teh tributary groundwater that forms them.
RECENT BUSINESS AND U.N. REPORTS PREDICT THAT DEMAND FOR WATER IN SOME PLACES IN THE WORLD WILL EXCEED SUPPLY BY 30 OR 40 PERCENT! WE USE AND ENJOY 20 PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S WATER. WHERE WILL THE WATER GO IF WE DO NOT ACT NOW TO PREVENT ITS EXPORT OR SALE. This does not mean we as a people cannot allow water to be shipped for special humanitarian needs by those hired by us to deliver it.
Thank you! Your children and grandchildren thank you.
Brian Beauchamp Jim Olson
Coordinating Director Chair
brian@mlui.org olson@envlaw.com
Flow for Water Coalition
148 E. Front Street, Ste. 301
Traverse City, Michigan 49684
(231) 941-6584, Ext. 19