Madison, WI—In a decision issued on Thursday, January 16, the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to take up a lawsuit involving a Bayfield company’s plan to harvest and transport water from an artesian well near Lake Superior for eventual bottling and sale.
The decision marks the end of more than three years of legal proceedings in which Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) represented Lake Superior Not for Sale (LSNFS), a grassroots group opposed to the proposal.
Bayfield company Kristle KLR would have stored the water in large underground tanks before transporting it in tanker trucks to an off-site bottling facility in Superior, Wisconsin. From there, the water would have been sold in plastic bottles in the Twin Cities and in areas beyond the Great Lakes Basin.
In April 2021, the Bayfield County Planning and Zoning Commission denied Kristle KLR’s application for a conditional use permit to operate a water pumping facility in Clover Township. When Kristle KLR appealed the decision, MEA submitted legal briefs on behalf of LSNFS asking Bayfield County to affirm its jurisdiction and to deny the permit. The Bayfield County Board of Adjustment subsequently voted unanimously to uphold the permit denial.
Kristle KLR unsuccessfully appealed the county’s decision to the Bayfield County Circuit Court. When the company later appealed the circuit court decision, MEA filed an amicus brief with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on behalf of LSNFS. In a June 2024 decision, the Court of Appeals rejected Kristle KLR’s arguments and affirmed the decision to deny the permit.
In 2021, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa also declared its opposition to the project, which would have been located on land where the Band holds treaty-reserved rights to hunt, fish, and gather. In a resolution passed by the Red Cliff Tribal Council, the Band declared that water extraction schemes like the one proposed by Kristle KLR threaten Tribal treaty rights and represent an existential threat to the Band’s culture and lifestyle.
Jennifer Boulley, Lake Superior Not For Sale Board Member, Water Protector & Indigenous Birth-worker said, “It is a good day for the water! She is celebrating and we are humbly continuing our responsibility of protecting water now and for future generations. Lake Superior Not For Sale is extremely happy with the outcome, and we will continue to fight any and all water extraction projects that commodify water. We will continue to promote and support sustainable processes to ensure Lake Superior and all water is safe for the future.”
Midwest Environmental Advocates Staff Attorney Rob Lee said, “Midwest Environmental Advocates is honored to have worked with Lake Superior Not for Sale, whose hard work and dedication successfully prevented the commercial exploitation of Lake Superior. Preventing the commodification and sale of Great Lakes water is critical to safeguarding this valuable resource for current and future generations.”
