New Hampshire Citizens Fight for Their Water Rights

(From Deerfield, NH The Forum 12/10/2007)

Meet the Mills of The Nottingham Tea Party

By Karen Davidson

Have you heard about the Nottingham Tea Party, or the Ordinance that is expected to be passed at the Nottingham Town Meeting in March of 2008? No, this isn't a Mad Hatter's tea party, or an elderly ladies' social. It is a concerned group of Nottingham residents who want their water, a resource that is precious and life sustaining for all of us, kept for use by the residents of Nottingham.
You might have heard that a few years ago, USA Springs bought land in Nottingham. USA Springs, part of the Hersey Corporation, plans to pump water out of the aquifer shared by Nottingham and Barrington, bottle it, and ship it around the world. It has already started construction of the water bottling plant.
Many legal battles were waged by the Neighborhood Guardians and Save Our Groundwater, yet the town, state and courts have all sided against these groups, and the residents of Nottingham, and given permission for USA Springs to continue building.
Chris and Gail Mills were instrumental in starting the Nottingham Tea Party [think Boston Tea Party and the fight to protect basic rights.] They are members of Save our Groundwater and Neighbor Guardians which, according to the Mills, tried to work through the regulatory system, "but found that the state agencies did not consider the will of the people."
I asked the Mills why they organized with others to form the Nottingham Tea Party. They told me that they "were concerned about our town," and they "realized that corporations could come into town and we, as residents, had very little say in what they do" in town.
Gail and Chris then attended Democracy School. She said, "We learned there was another way to protect our town." She discovered that they could stop big corporations coming into Nottingham and other small towns, and stop them from ruining our environment. Gail continued, "Thankfully, a number of other people in town agreed with us." And with that, the Nottingham Tea Party was formed. They have about 60 people on their mailing list and the list is still growing.
This is not the first time an ordinance, dealing with water, has been written and passed by the Nottingham voters. The 2003 ordinance stated, "There shall be no approval for the construction or operation of any water bottling, fruit juice processing, soft drink processing or alcoholic beverage processing facility in Nottingham without the approval of the voters of the Town at a regularly scheduled town meeting. Further, no water extracted within the boundaries of the Town of Nottingham shall be transported outside of the Town for commercial purposes by truck, rail, pipeline or any other means." The ordinance was passed with only one dissenting vote at the 2003 Town Meeting. However, it was voided by stipulation, filed with the New Hampshire Superior Court in May of 2004 by the USA Spring's attorney, and Nottingham's town Attorney, John Teaque. The filing of this stipulation was approved during a closed meeting with the Nottingham Selectmen and Attorney Teague. It never came before the town as stipulated in the ordinance.
But this did not stop Gail and Chris and the other Nottingham residents. They met with Attorney Tom Linzey, co-founder of Community Environmental Legal Defense, and a new ordinance was written. The new ordinance "declares the right to water for people and the ecosystems of which Nottingham is a part." It protects surface and groundwater.
It also "Protects the Residents of Nottingham and the ecosystem of the Town from having rights denied. When ecosystems are destroyed, the corporations must pay to remedy the harm done and restore the community. The corporation is responsible for all legal fees and damages." Basically, the ordinance, "strips the corporations of right to "personhood" so that they cannot claim protection under the Contracts Clause or the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution granted them by illegitimate law."
The ordinance is a very long document. Chris says, many people have already questioned why it had to be so long? It's simple. "There are many protective layers to keep the corporation from getting to the "nugget" the law, which is the water withdrawal." he says.
I wondered if taxes would go up, if this ordinance were passed, due to legal issues with the town, or the state. "First, we do not know if this ordinance will be challenged in court.", replied Gail. "A corporation that was dumping sludge in Barnstead, who then passed an ordinance similar to ours, stopped their dumping and closed down without challenge. Should there be a challenge, there may be a slight increase in taxes. According to Attorney Tom Linzey, co-founder of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), the cost would be approximately $5,000. We question what our individual costs will be if wells around town go dry or are polluted. What will our property be worth then? If real estate values drop as a result, then our tax base would drop appropriately. This scenario would certainly increase our tax rate or we would have to cut services."
Gail's reply led me to another question. Do we really know if our wells will run dry once USA Springs starts pumping water? Chris was very honest with his answer. "We don't. However, Dr. Ballasteros from UNH, was hired by Nottingham shortly after USA Spring applied to the Town. He enumerated 27 scientific points that would be detrimental to our Town's people and the ecology. His report is on file with the Town Administrator."
I was concerned that this ordinance would scare other business away from Nottingham. But Gail said the ordinance would "only make corporations cautious if they intend to do something that the majority of town's people do not want like dumping sludge, building an incinerator, etc. If they want to do something that is ecologically sensible, beneficial to the town, or at least will not harm the town's environment, this will not affect them." She continued explaining, "There are exceptions in the ordinance which include municipal (Town of Nottingham) water within the town, non-profits and charities using the water, who do not sell it outside of town, utility provision, and corporations under agreement with Town residents."
The discussion of this ordinance will make a very interesting town meeting, come March 2008. Don't miss attending it!
If you would like more information, or to be added to the Nottingham Tea Party mailing list, call Gail and Chris Mills at 942-8969 or email them at mailto:cgmills_7@comcast.net.
The Mills have been married for 25 years. Gail teaches at Granite State College and Chris is retired from running his own painting and wall covering business. They have two grown children.