Norm

While travelling in NZ we found the
perfect vehicle to use if the enviros keep closing the roads.

cheers........ken

Norman MacLeod <[email-masked]> wrote:

http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/NEWS/60419010/-1/NLETTER01

Well, it would appear
that the condemnation effort has turned the landowner, All American, into a
"willing seller".

Mayor
forecasts water deal

Tumwater’s
Ralph Osgood expects cities to reach accord within one month

By Jim Szymanski

The Olympian

TUMWATER — A
deal for Thurston County’s three major cities to purchase water rights
from All American Bottled Water Corp. could be reached within a month, Mayor
Ralph Osgood predicted Tuesday.

He made the
announcement at an annual “State of the City” speech to the
Tumwater Chamber of Commerce. At first, he predicted a deal in two weeks, but
later in the day was more confident about a one-month negotiation period.

“We’re
talking high-stakes negotiations here; they’re up and down from day to
day,” Osgood said. “But I think they’re getting very close. I
would hope we could get something within a month.”

Lacey City Attorney
Ken Ahlf, who with his peers from Olympia and Tumwater is negotiating with All
American, said there is validity to Osgood’s statement about a settlement
in two weeks.

“Things are
going well,” he said.

Ahlf declined to
disclose details about the points of negotiation between All American and the
cities because they haven’t been discussed with elected leaders from the
three cities.

Asked whether the
proposed settlement would allow All-American to retain water rights, the city
attorney responded any agreement would protect the company’s interests.

Tom Lemly, the Seattle
attorney representing All-American, couldn’t be reached for comment
Tuesday.

Osgood said he was
holding out hope that the water company might retain enough water rights in a
deal to begin bottling water at the city’s former Miller brewery site.

“I want to see
something happen at the brewery,” Osgood told about 50 members of the
Tumwater Chamber of Commerce. “There are potentially 200 family-wage jobs
to be had there. Around the state, people are actively competing to get those
kinds of jobs.”

All-American has been
a source of frustration for Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater after it failed to
obtain sufficient financing since it acquired the former Miller brewery
property in 2004. All-American has proposed selling its water rights to the
cities, leasing 2.5 million gallons a day for its water bottling operations at
a nominal fee and reaching a purchase price for the rest of the water.

Olympia, Tumwater and
Lacey city officials have joined in condemnation proceedings against
All-American out of fear they might permanently lose rights to the water if the
company were to seek bankruptcy court protection. The cities want the water
because it is an important natural resource for growth and development.

But city
representatives are trying to avoid a lengthy and costly court condemnation
process.

“The litigation
will take at least a couple years and be incredibly expensive,” Olympia
Councilman Joe Hyer said Tuesday. “If they (All-American) fail to
perform, we don’t want them to have water rights.”

At the same time,
Osgood said he was holding out hope that All-American could obtain sufficient
financing in a sale of water rights to start bottling water.

Nearly 400 employees
lost their jobs when Miller closed the brewery.

Were All-American to
retain some water rights, it would be a “very strong competitive
edge” in the company’s stated goal of converting the brewery into a
water bottling plant, Osgood said.

Talks aimed at a deal
are delicate enough that he can’t predict success just yet, Osgood noted.

Initially, Olympia
moved on its own to condemn the brewery property, which angered city officials
in Tumwater and Lacey. Though the cities now are cooperating on a deal to share
the water rights, Osgood said the wounds from Olympia’s solo move are
healing slowly.

“There’s
no question that the action Olympia took hurt the trust between the
cities,” Osgood said. “The relationships are a little tense right
now. We’re walking very carefully with one another.”

Hyer, too, cautioned
that the cities’ talks with All-American are not guaranteed to succeed.

“There are so
many things that could upset that,” Hyer said.

Officials want to
pinpoint how much water there is and who would pay to treat the water to
improve its taste, Hyer said.

Until Olympia’s
interests can be best protected, Hyer said he would not predict that a deal
will be worked out.

“We want to make
sure that any deal we make with them protects the city’s
interests,” he said.

Further, Hyer noted,
any deal would take the approval of 21 elected officials in the three cities.

It’s still too
early to assume political support for a water deal, Hyer said.

Olympian
reporter Christian Hill contributed to this report.

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