Legal Battle Continues over Saudi Groundwater Pumping in Arizona

Legal battle continues over Saudi groundwater pumping in Arizona

Key Points:  Agricultural company claims attorney general lacks authority to sue  Filings claim authority lies solely with Arizona Department of Water Resources  Ongoing litigation puts spotlight on gaps in groundwater regulation, policy A legal fight over whether groundwater pumping by Fondomonte Arizona, a Saudi-backed agriculture company, constitutes a public nuisance now centers around whether the Arizona attorney general has the right to…

Saudi-owned corporate farms are draining Arizona’s desert dry

This far out, there’s no such thing as municipal city water. The afternoon desert sun beats down, hard, as we drive up the gravel road to Tom and Illene Wood’s reddish-brown adobe-style stucco house, nestled off-the-grid within the shrubs and mountains of the Sonoran Desert, with cacti and mastiffs standing guard. Like many residents of rural America, they dug a well. That 400-foot well cost them $10,000. But by 2011, the land had shifted, and t…