Bottler’s expansion halted due to tax talk

LEWISTON – Poland Spring is suspending expansion plans in Maine because of a citizen initiative to tax water bottlers.

Kim Jeffery, CEO of Poland Spring’s parent company Nestle Waters, said Poland Spring could double its work force of 500 in the next five or six years if its expansion plans move forward.

“I have a need right now to make a $150 million investment in a new bottling plant,” Jeffery told the Maine Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting Wednesday. “I can’t do that until this issue is resolved.”

The company has been evaluating sites in Somerset, Franklin and Oxford counties for a new plant. It also has discussed building a fourth plant because of consumer demand, but that, too, has been tabled.

At issue is a citizen initiative organized by H2O for ME, a group that wants to impose a 3 cent tax per 20-ounce bottle of water drawn from Maine aquifers. That amounts to about 20 cents per gallon of water.

H2O for ME hopes to collect more than 50,000 voters’ signatures to force a statewide referendum on the question, which is titled, “An Act to Preserve Maine’s Drinking Water Supply.”

“It seems to me that when you have a product such as water, it’s fair to say this water belongs to all the people in Maine,” said Jim Wilfong of Stow, a former legislator and director of H20 for ME.

Jeffery said the tax works out to $150 million a year based on the 500 million gallons it draws from Maine aquifers every year. The company earns $60 million a year in profits, he said.

“I don’t think these people understand that they’re talking about more than 100 percent of the profits of my company,” he said.

Jeffery’s comments came amid pending action in Somerset County Superior Court on a complaint seeking to block a permit issued to Nestle’s for the extraction of 80 million gallons of spring water from an aquifer near Bigelow Preserve.

Nestle’s lawyers have filed a motion seeking to dismiss the complaint, environmental activist Jonathan Carter said Thursday. Carter and Citizens for the Protection of Maine’s Groundwater filed the complaint against Nestle’s.

Poland Spring is one of the region’s biggest private employers, with more than 500 workers and annual wages and benefits of $37 million. It also pays another $65 million to other Maine companies and vendors.

The company currently draws its water from Poland, Poland Spring, Hollis and Fryeburg.