Barry Summers and Katie Hicks authored a piece that’s been published in this week’s Mtn. X. Excerpts:

In August, the American Legislative Exchange Council held its annual conference in New Orleans. The group, whose members are state legislators and industry reps, is a clearing-house for legislation promoting a conservative, free-market agenda. Powerful business interests write model bills which member legislators then introduce in their respective assemblies.

The New Orleans conference featured panel discussions on privatizing public infrastructure — including water utilities. Lobbyists for private water companies were invited to speak, but the public and the press were barred at the door. Every member of the soon-to-be-formed Metropolitan Sewerage/Water System Committee was there, including [Rep. Tim] Moffitt, the committee’s chair.
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Moffitt has also become co-chair of the Legislature’s Select Committee on Public-Private Partnerships. PPP, as it’s sometimes called, is a relatively new term that covers a range of private involvement, including outright ownership and management of formerly publicly owned infrastructure: in other words, privatization. The committee’s first hearing, held Dec. 12 in Raleigh, included a briefing on the various ways N.C. municipalities could privatize their water systems.

A majority of Moffitt’s water committee members — the very group that could determine the future of Asheville’s drinking water — are also on his PPP committee…
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Given our local water system’s long, sometimes contentious history, it’s no surprise that some want to shift control away from the city of Asheville. But what if those who will determine the system’s future aren’t really interested in redressing past grievances or distributing resources more fairly but simply in taking this vital resource away from Asheville’s elected officials and making it vulnerable to future privatization?