Grand Canyon Killed Bottle Ban After Coke Balked

Company is a big donor, and it sells Dasani water
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 10, 2011 12:59 PM CST
Grand Canyon Water Bottle Ban Squashed By Coke
An aerial view of the Grand Canyon.   (Getty Images)

Visitors to the Grand Canyon can still bring plastic water bottles into the national park, and they might thank Coca-Cola for the privilege. The New York Times explains: The park came thisclose to instituting a ban this year to cut down on trash. But the top US parks official killed the plan at the last minute after getting an earful from Coke officials. The company is a big donor to the National Parks Foundation—and it also happens to sell bottled water under the Dasani brand.

“That was upsetting news because of what I felt were ethical issues surrounding the idea of being influenced unduly by business,” says the Grand Canyon parks official who first proposed the ban. Federal parks chief Jon Jarvis denies that Coke influenced his decision, though an email shows that he wanted to put the ban on hold until "we have hosted a meeting with the major producers of bottled water." (More Grand Canyon stories.)

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