You might be aware that in much of Arizona (outside the Active Management Areas) it is perfectly fine for a foreign citizen, corporation, or nation to buy a plot of Arizona farmland and then mine an unlimited amount of ground water under said property to grow whatever they like and then export it back home – or just burn it, if they feel like it. The result is almost like building a pipeline from our aquifers to any foreign nation. Our current ground water laws make this outrage perfectly legal.
But there is a solution that doesn’t require renegotiating a hundred years of water law and rights, or trying to terminate their leases one by one. We could enact controls on who can buy agricultural land and for what purposes, and shut down that virtual water pipeline. They are trying exactly that in Mississippi:
Since its constitution was approved in 1890, the state has had provisions restricting land ownership by “nonresident aliens,” the report noted. But the committee concluded current state law “lacks a clear, workable enforcement mechanism.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that foreign interests held some 757,000 acres of Mississippi’s agricultural land, about 2.5% of the total. Gipson hopes the Republican-led legislature will stiffen the law in the upcoming session.
“I think the time is going to be right in 2024 for the legislature to tighten these laws up,” he said.
If the legislature acts, Mississippi will join a growing group of states seeking to ban or further restrict foreign ownership of farmland. Lawmakers are targeting nations considered hostile to U.S. interests, such as China and Russia, and looking for new enforcement measures. Many see Arkansas as leading the latter push; officials there invoked a new law in October that bans certain foreign owners and ordered a Chinese seed company to divest its land.
Stateline.org, BY: KEVIN HARDY – DECEMBER 4, 2023.
Mississipi even kindly did a good deal of background research on the legality of such a measure. [PDF Link] It’s not often that I am in favor of any similarity between Arizona and Mississippi (we are far too often in matters of quality of life considered the Mississippi of the Southwest), nor any legislative efforts by Republicans, but this is an exception.
I am outraged and fed up with the abuse of our precious and irreplaceable aquifers by foreign interests. I’d like to see a bill this session to study the feasibility of such a legislative solution in Arizona next session; if you thing that’s a good idea, too, contact your legislators and let ’em know.
I suppose we could have a discussion about exporting all sorts of things but the real issue here is not who owns what or where it goes but the drawdown of groundwater. If the same behavior was done by a U.S. corporation it would be just as bad. It’s not a good idea to contaminate the discussion about water policy with an appeal to nationalism!
The Arizona farm bureau has fought ANY restrictions on ground water pumping for ANY entity. Their legislative lapdog from Cochise County, Gail Griffin, has opposed anything for 40 years, in her, on again, off again tenures in the legislature. Its insane. This is not 1910.