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AMERICAN WATER WORKS IS FOR SALE - AGAIN

 

 

 

 

Joyce Morrison
April 18, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

RWE AG, a German owned utility company purchased the American Water Works in 2001 for 7.6 billion. The American Water Works was founded in 1886 and serves 1,300 communities in 23 states from the East Coast to the West Coast.

RWE now has AWW up for sale and U.S. Mayors are saying �we want control of our own water.�

At the time RWE purchased AWW, California questioned if regulators could hold multinational utilities to state and local laws under international trade agreements?

RWE/ Thames Water, which is a subsidiary located in England, promised that the customers would not have to pay for the $7.6 billion cost of buying AWW. They told those concerned this debt would be paid off through a 60-year growth strategy. However, some areas have been protesting AWW�s unusually high rate increases and declining maintenance.

Illinois has been a leader in taking back local control of the water. Other states are joining the battle. Tennessee and Kentucky are loudly voicing their desire to take their water systems back under local control.

Mayor Laurel Prussing of Urbana, IL spoke out at RWE�s annual shareholder meeting in Essen Germany on April 13. Prussing told the group, �Our experience in Illinois has taught us that we need local control of our water systems. We are willing to pay a fair price, and we believe investors will benefit more from selling to us than by wasting money on a political war while neglecting much-needed maintenance.�

April 5, a water system legislation bill passed both houses in Illinois. This legislation will help Champaign, Urbana, Pekin and other Illinois towns acquire their local water systems by the use of eminent domain without having to go through the Illinois Commerce Commission.

This bill will give local municipalities the opportunity to own their own water systems without the approval of the ICC.

Bollingbrook, Homer Glen and Plainfield in Illinois are exploring a joint purchase of their communities� water utility according to Food and Water Watch. A letter of intent has been signed by the mayors of the three cities regarding their concerns about Illinois American Water Work�s service and billing practices.

Questions are being raised whether RWE will sell their AWW assets piecemeal or as a whole. How will this sale effect contracts such as the one with the US Department of Defense for the privatization of utilities of Fort Bragg, North Carolina?

RWE is a huge energy company owning more than 640 subsidiaries in 120 countries. Reports are they want to focus on energy which is their primary industry.

Germany is not the only foreign nation to own water in the United States. France also owns a number of local water systems.

There is growing concern regarding the infrastructure of the United States being sold to foreign countries. Chicago became the first U.S. government entity to lease a toll way to private investors. Last year the city negotiated a deal with a 99 year contract on the 7.8 mile Chicago Skyway with a Spanish-Australian group for $1.83 billion.

Negotiations have been under way for Indiana to sign a lease with the same Spanish-Australia partnership to operate the 157 mile toll road known as the �Main Street of the Midwest.� This strip runs along the state�s northern border and is strategic for linking the East Coast to Chicago.

Where should the United States draw the line on privatization? Are we selling our security with our infrastructure?

Privatization of our��roads, tunnels, bridges, electricity supply facilities, mass transit, rail transportation, airports, ports, waterways, water supply facilities�� was legalized when President George H. W. Bush signed Executive Order 12803, April 30, 1992. Private buyers were assumed to be �American� but now we know any corporation or any country can buy America and apparently some in government as well, according to Nick Ivanovich in his article, Exporting Security.

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We have become conditioned to the global marketing concept. Our children are told they are �global citizens,� and we are responsible for the global environment, global economy and global equity. Finally, we discover we are no longer a sovereign nation as we ride the slippery slope to globalism.

We find ourselves facing an oil crisis because of our dependency on foreign nations. There is an obvious effort to push farmers off the land and import our food from foreign countries. Will we find ourselves facing the same situation with our water?

� 2006 Joyce Morrison - All Rights Reserved

E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, not for sale


Joyce Morrison attempts to educate the public regarding the dangers coming to their local communities through Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 programs which are designed to gradually take control of all private property through undue regulations.

Morrison writes for Eco-logic Powerhouse, NewsWithViews.com, Range Magazine, SOWER magazine as well as numerous other publications. She is a weekly participant on the teleconference of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank and is a pro-life, pro-family activist.

She is a chapter leader for Concerned Women for America as well as Secretary to the Board of Directors of Rural Restoration/ADOPT Mission, a national farm ministry located in Sikeston, MO. FarmersRuralRestoration.com. Her most enjoyable time is spent teaching a senior adult Sunday School class which is a focus on hope and encouragement.

E-Mail: dayspring365@yahoo.com



 

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Illinois has been a leader in taking back local control of the water. Other states are joining the battle. Tennessee and Kentucky are loudly voicing their desire to take their water systems back under local control.