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Siskiyou County Court To Hold Hearing On Reopening Mt. Shasta Bottling Plant

Conflicting claims over plans to restart a shuttered Mt. Shasta city bottling plant will be considered by a Siskiyou County court Thursday.

The hearing won’t end the controversy. It’s only the latest twist in a campaign to reopen a shuttered bottling plant just outside the city of Mt. Shasta.

Once operated by the French multinational Dannon, and later the Coca-Cola Company, the plant was acquired by Crystal Geyser Water Company two and a half years ago.

While the area may be among the lushest in California, the optics of bottling water during a drought aren’t great, as competitor Nestle found out two years ago when one its bottling plants in Southern California drew criticism.

Siskiyou County activists were outraged that the plant looked on course to dodge environmental review. The usual objections to traffic and noise were raised, and activists warned that groundwater could recede and wells run dry — a nightmare scenario for local homeowners.

Officials reasoned that the proposal was similar enough to earlier incarnations not to trigger more environmental reports. That’s no longer the case. Jill Harris, a spokesperson for Crystal Geyser said the company accepts the new reality.

“We have been willing and ready to comply with the CEQA process, if a permitting agency determined that it was necessary,” Harris said.

Thursday’s hearing though involves other issues. In their suit, activists with the group We Advocate Thorough Environmental Review, or W.A.T.E.R., contend that planned operations would violate zoning restrictions at the site.

They say plans to produce plastic bottles, brew tea, carbonate water and add fruit flavorings constitute heavy industry. Crystal Geyser hopes to have the case tossed from a courtroom. 

Ahead of the hearing and an environmental process likely to drag on for another year, Harris was confident.

“We stand behind our operations, we believe that the environmental review will show that our operations will not have a significant impact on the local environment,” she said.

She said the company has spent $60 million on the site and renovations. Activists aren’t without hope either, Crystal Geyser abandoned plans to set up shop in Orland several years ago.