Jana Segal

While tending my desert garden, I became a sort of citizen scientist observing the impact of rising temperatures and declining rainfall in Tucson. That convinced me that we need to do everything we can to lessen the impact of climate change. I share my journey on Sustainable Living Tucson blog. That includes what I have learned about sustainable practices like water-harvesting and clean energy. I also directed a virtual production of my play, "Regeneration: The Tucson Story" that you can find on Youtube. I am currently the lead of Sustainable Tucson's Environmental Advocacy group and a member of the Water Committee. I attend the Pima Department of Environmental Quality's Green Infrastructure planning meetings as Sustainable Tucson's Water Ambassador. I also rally my friends on social media to become active too by posting Calls to Action from my blog Desktop Activist Tucson.

Nominate “The Godfather of Solar” Bill Mundell for ACC

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I don’t have to tell you that there is an important election coming up in 2020. But there is one race that is often overlooked on the ballot – the corporation commissioners. The Arizona Corporation Commission wields great power in Arizona. The ACC functions as the fourth branch of Arizona state government. Commissioners make important decisions that affect Arizona residents – like regulating the utility companies. If you are an environmental advocate, you might want to pay special attention to the next election for the ACC. Their decisions influence how fast Arizona moves to clean energy.

It is important to do your homework and make sure that the ACC candidates you select represent you. This is especially vital because recent ACC members have been prosecuted for accepting dark money from the Arizona Public Service Electric Company (APS) to influence their vote.

Remember APS? APS spent 38 million dollars of their customers’ money to affect the outcome of Prop 127. Former commissioner Kristin Mayes suggested that we make it illegal for utility companies to spend money to influence elections. That is something we really should work on. Meanwhile, let’s support candidates who won’t be accepting dark money from them.

Consider signing Bill Mundell’s nomination petition for the AZ Corporation Commission. He is running again and is very pro-solar.

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Call your Reps now to save ballot initiatives!

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Republicans in Arizona are scared of the grassroots. That’s why they are pushing SB 1451, which would create burdens for people collecting ballot initiative signatures. The Arizona House Elections Committee will be hearing this bill tomorrow. SB 1451 has already passed the Senate, so our only hope is to stop this bill in the House. … Read more

Actions to Protect AZ Water: for TODAY and this week at the Arizona State Legislature

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This week there are some bills that could affect our water being heard at the Arizona State Legislature.

The first action requires a quick phone call. Please, take a couple minutes to call your state Representatives before it goes to a vote (which could be anytime.)

The rest of the bills are being heard in committee. If you have registered for the Request to Speak, you can sign in on the system on the Arizona Legislature Website.  You can weigh in on RTS anytime before or during that meeting. (See info below.)

PHONE ACTION:

There was a recent attempt to resurrect one of several bad water bills in the House. HB2609 Harquahala non-expansion area; groundwater transfer (Petersen: Cook) allows private water companies in the Harquahala Irrigation Non-expansion area (west of the Phoenix area) to withdraw water to a depth of 1,500 feet rather than 1,000 feet and transport it into an active management area. This violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Code and sets a terrible precedent for bypassing statewide groundwater management by importing water from areas outside the Active Management Areas. Speaker of the House, Rusty Bowers, is leading the effort to jam this through over the objections of La Paz County and any who are concerned about further privatizing water. Please call your representatives and ask them to oppose HB2609. If they say they are opposing it, thank them.

To find out who your Rep is, find your district: https://azredistricting.org/districtlocator/

Use that district to find the contact information for your Rep: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/

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ACTIONS NEEDED BEFORE MONDAY MORNING on HB2111 and 3 Request to Speak items

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Legislative UPDATE from Sandy Bahr from the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter

This week, the last week to hear bills in committee in the house of origin, is referred to as “hell week,” due to the super long agendas with long lists of bills and strike-everything amendments and the meetings that drag into the night. While there was time to hear a plethora of bad water bills in the Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee, there was no time to even consider ecological water. In fact, many good bills went in the dustbin this week — ecological water, voters’ bill of rights, Equal Rights Amendment, reversing the ban on bans of plastic bags, banning fracking, climate resolutions, and more. While these important bills are dead in their current form, the Sierra Club is not giving up and will continue to look for ways to amend them on to other bills and have our voices heard. Meanwhile, we will also focus on a few of the good ones that got through the first part of the process and on stopping the ones that roll back protections, suppress votes, and make it more difficult to qualify a citizen initiative.

Please send a message to your Representatives asking them to oppose HB2111.

HB2111 S/E water supply; adequacy; exemptions (Griffin) allows counties such as Cochise and Yuma that have adopted water adequacy provisions for subdivisions to rescind them unanimously. If they rescind them, they cannot readopt them for five years. This is likely to result in ever more harm to the San Pedro River due to excessive groundwater pumping and will weaken the limited protections for consumers.

If you are not sure who your legislators are, just use this Find My Legislator link and enter your address. To contact legislators, go to Members.

There are three bills being heard in the House Appropriations Committee Monday morning at 8 a.m. This is an opportunity to weigh in on Request to Speak and leave a comment that becomes part of the public record.

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