Brilliant! Drought-Stricken Florida Gives Nestle Unlimited Water for $230

Ah, Florida. With a reputation already sullied by dirty election politics and bonehead decision making, this latest news is funny, sad and totally unsurprising all at once.

Boing Boing has it:

The State of Florida has given a Nestle bottling plant the right to pump as much water as it can get out Madison Blue Springs State Park, which is presently in drought conditions. The right lasts until 2018, and cost Nestle $230 in permit fees. Florida is presently in bitter dispute with its neighboring states over a region-wide water-shortage.

$230. Total. No taxes, no fees - plus the state gave Nestle an outrageously large tax refund for this bottling operation. With some predicting that water shortages will place this precious commodity’s value above oil in the not-so-distant future, Florida has proven that politics trump the needs of its citizens any day of the week.

One wonders whether the clowns in office just run around in circles playing human whack-a-mole on each other all day. Maybe that would explain the astounding dearth of brain cells in lawmakers’ skulls.

Link [Boing Boing]

Photo: Flickr user rexboggs5