“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,” said Mayes in the release.
Farms in western Arizona are growing alfalfa – one of the most water-intensive crops – in an area where there’s a shortage of water. Some farms are foreign-owned and are shipping the crop to Saudi Arabia, where it’s illegal to grow because it takes too much water.
The nationality of the farmers is less offensive than proxy exporting limited American resources to international customers. Saudi wells might not be the only ones needing revocation.
I feel the same about this as I would if the headline read
“Jewish-owned” or “black-owned” or “Christian-owned” etc… and I hope everyone else does too.
That said, I’ve seen the irrigation practices in Arizona.
There is no way those are sustainable and it is very unlikely they will end well or smoothly.
“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,” said Mayes in the release. “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.”
I don’t know the science behind this but common sense says this is not a good idea. What are you going to fill this space under ground with once the water has been removed? Do you just expect sinkholes and no big deal? My question is, who approved it 8 months ago…were they paid off by the Saudis and do they still have a job?
