In response to Arizona’s worsening groundwater crisis, Governor Katie Hobbs recently announced the termination of state land leases to Fondomonte Arizona.
According to Hobbs, this Saudi-owned company has been pumping “unchecked amounts” of groundwater in western Arizona — specifically, in 3,500 acres in Butler Valley near Bouse. It farmed about 3,500 acres of state land to grow feed for dairy cows in Saudi Arabia and has been allowed to pump groundwater for that purpose entirely unchecked and unpaid for. The state is moving to immediately terminate one lease covering 640 acres of land and will not renew three other leases that expire next February. For years, policy makers have raised concerns about the best use of groundwater in the Butler Valley, one of five “water transportation basins” that allow water to be moved around the state and that has been earmarked as a possible future supply for Phoenix and other metro areas.
According to an article published in the Arizona Republic, “Fondomonte’s presence in western Arizona became a political lightning rod as policymakers grappled with a megadrought, a decreasing supply from the Colorado River, and increasing demand for water in the form of a growing population.”
Fondomonte plans to fight the measure.
For details and history on this development, read the Arizona Republic article.