Stuff you need to know, 7.17.23

“How a Saudi firm tapped a gusher of water in drought-stricken Arizona”
by Isaac Stanley-Becker, Joshua Partlow and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
The Washington Post, July 16, 2023

Lax rules let foreign-owned Fondomonte Arizona pump water from state land it inexpensively leases to grow alfalfa for Saudi Arabian dairy cows. After almost a decade of Republic state government officials’ inattention, Arizona’s new Democratic governor Katie Hobbs has pledged to investigate the appropriateness of the lease. A confrontation with the company could follow, with implications not just for foreign companies with interest in American natural resources, but also for the future of agriculture in the Southwest as drought intensifies and cities clamor for rural water reserves.

Click on the above link to read this gift-access report, which, while an extremely long read, has relevance to New Mexico, where a similar water rights conflict is winding its way through the courts. The case will determine whether Augustin Plains Ranch, a limited-liability corporation owned by an Italian billionaire, will be allowed to submit a proposal to the state engineer to pump 54,000 acre feet of water annually from 18,000 acres APR owns in southwestern New Mexico. The business plans to pipe the water hundreds of miles away to Albuquerque area customers.

“Black Fire relief funds should be at correct state agency by end of month”
by Megan Gleason, Source NM
July 17, 2023

The $2 million in disaster aid was sent by mistake to the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department instead of to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration. It is still unclear when and how the finance agency will distribute the funds to victims of the conflagration that last summer devastated parts of the Gila National Forest.

Click on the above link to read this free-access report.