State officials reversed a court win for commoners under industry influence

Evidence

In early December 2003, the courts made their decision. Judge Lawrence Root ordered Nestlé to completely stop pumping water in 22 days, effectively closing the plant. But, Governor Jennifer Granholm shocked activists by filing an amicus brief that convinced the appeals court to grant a stay to the order, allowing Nestlé to continue taking water for profit out of Michigan. While serving as Attorney General, Granholm had voiced strong opposition to the Ice Mountain project, but clearly the multi-million dollar water privatization industry has found its way into the hearts and interests of state officials. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1519

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch6’s claim that citizenship as uncritical obedience is indefensible, and to the reader’s law/institutions polyad thread. — connects to: Municipal water privatization victimized and blamed already-impoverished Highland Park residents — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1520
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how did Granholm’s reversal actually come about, and what became of the Michigan water-bottling controversies since?