Score One for Water Conservation in Arizona.
During the 2022 campaign, then-Attorney General Democratic Nominee Kris Mayes continually railed against the lunacy of the then Arizona State Government allowing Saudi Arabia water drilling rights in LaPaz County to irrigate for alfalfa crops.
Fast forward to Earth Day weekend, 2023, now Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has acted in the best interests of water conservation in the Grand Canyon State by revoking the water drilling permits for those farms.
According to an April 24, 2023 post (please see below) from the Attorney General and reporting from the Associated Press, the farm had been utilizing three thousand gallons of water a minute to farm the alfalfa.
In a press release from the Attorney General’s office on Friday, April 21, 2023, Ms. Mayes noted:
“It is unconscionable that as recently as eight months ago, the state of Arizona was approving new deep-water wells designed to pump thousands of gallons of water per minute out from under La Paz County. It is long-past time for the state of Arizona to wake up and address this growing crisis head-on before it is too late.”
In the same press release, Attorney General Mayes called for increased regulation and monitoring by the Arizona Department of Water Resources of the Grand Canyon state’s groundwater supply, stating:
“Due to the historic long-term drought facing the state and the growing effects of climate change, Arizona is on the cusp of a water crisis that could have devastating impacts for all Arizonans For too long, our state leaders have been asleep at the wheel while this crisis has only grown. With new state leadership and the ever-increasing urgency of the issue, now is the time for the state government to get serious about regulating groundwater across Arizona and fulfill existing statutory duties so Arizona as we know it can continue to exist.”
On social media, the Attorney General also made several posts, including:
It's time to wake up and protect Arizona's most precious natural resource – water. Due to the historic long-term drought facing the state and the growing effects of climate change, Arizona is on the cusp of a water crisis that could have devastating impacts for all Arizonans.
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 21, 2023
For too long, our state leaders have been asleep at the wheel while this crisis has only grown. Well, with new state leadership and the ever-increasing urgency of the issue, now is the time for the state government to get serious about regulating groundwater across Arizona.
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 21, 2023
3,000-gallons-per-minute. That's how much water a Saudi-owned farm wanted to pump out of wells in La Paz County. The permits for those wells have been revoked. Now is the time for our state leaders to get serious about regulating our groundwater. https://t.co/9kRjXQpejV
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2023
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Score one for Chris Mays, or maybe Governor Hobbs, because they both seem to be arguing over who should take credit for the revocation of these two permits. However, these permits are for future wells and let’s not forget that this company already has 32 operational permits. Of course, some of them may not be being used but they’re still gonna be pumping in waffle lot of water, and because these permits were revoked on finally technicalities, they may yet be resurrected.
There are two issues with respect to this one. One is the ridiculous policy of pumping non-metered water, which I think is a big problem and which I oppose, and which I support legislation to stop. The second is whether the state land department gave them a sweetheart deal for the rent. Regarding the second issue, I requested that the joint legislative audit committee have the auditor general do an audit of the contract and they agreed to do that. The audit should probably be completed in a few months. Then we will see if it was a sweetheart deal.
The issue of a company owned by a foreign entity pumping water, growing crops, and then shipping those crops outside of Arizona is a complicated one. A very large percentage of the crops that are grown in Arizona are shipped all over the country and all over the world. Most winter vegetables consumed in the U.S. come from Arizona and California using their water.Apparently nobody seems to object to that. Beyond that, many of the major mining operations in Arizona are owned by foreign firms, mostly Canadian, and they also use water and they ship minerals all over the place including into your cellphone and laptop. I’m not sure if we’d also like a policy where every state and every country prevents any crops or minerals that use water from their aquifers to be shipped outside of their boundaries.
The aquifer which this farm is pumping water from is supposed to be holding water that will be used by Phoenix and surrounding areas. That is a good reason to have not given them a lease for any water pumping. However, they got that lease because both Democrats and Republicans, mostly from rural areas, oppose any meaningful restrictions on water pumping. Water pumping restrictions will reduce development which will reduce economic advancement. That’s what it’s all about..
In waffle = an awful
Excuse the dictation errp
“However, these permits are for future wells and let’s not forget that this company already has 32 operational permits.”
Yes, that’s an important point to be sure. However, what AG Mayes has accomplished is to expose the hemorrhage and allow this issue to see the light of day. People who didn’t know about it (which almost everyone) can start raising hell.
There was a PBS program called The Desert Speaks hosted by David Yetman from the UofA. He’s covered the water crisis in the southwest for at least 15 years. I remember one show about irrigation methods in agriculture being used in CA that were saving water. Here’s a good USDA article (with videos) on the subject.
https://www.farmers.gov/blog/doing-more-with-less-water
How efficiently is water being used for agriculture in Arizona? What kind of oversight is employed?
Most people really don’t know what is going on with water usage in agriculture and mining unless they have some direct involvement or they have taken it upon themselves to educate the public. God knows that collectively our elected officials in Arizona have been grossly negligent in every aspect of water conservation. There are some notable exceptions but without long term statewide planning and commitment we find ourselves where we are today, facing an existential crisis affecting seven states and Mexico.
Round of applause for AG Mayes.
The Saudis are growing alfalfa that gets shipped back to Saudi Arabia to feed livestock.
I don’t know and haven’t read this anywhere, but I strongly suspect the Saudis are not using the most efficient irrigation methods.
Even if they were, a foreign country growing a water intensive crop in the Sonoran Desert is just insane.
It’s really no wonder that the Upper Basin states are fed up with CA and AZ.
The problem is the way the water is being used not who is doing it. Would the Arizona objectors speak out if some Saudis objected to an American company drilling for oil in Saudi Arabia and sending it to us?
I want to know how much Dooshey and his GQP cohorts were paid to look the other way while Saudi Arabia (that font of ME enlightenment) stole AZ resources. I’m surprised they didn’t work out a deal to ship immigrants to KSA as slave labor. I spent 18 months in the ME with the military, I wouldn’t trust any ME govt anymore than I’d trust the GQP.