The lawsuit alleges that the agribusiness Fondo Monte has been depleting Arizona’s aquifers since 2014.
Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays on Wednesday charged a Saudi agribusiness with public nuisance law violations, arguing that groundwater pumping threatens the public health, safety and infrastructure of communities in rural western counties. announced that he would sue.
The complaint filed in Maricopa County Superior Court alleges the pumping was done at Fondomonte Arizona LLC. Alfalfa farms have had widespread impacts on La Paz County’s Lanegras Plain basin, reducing supplies, drying up wells, and cracking and sinking the ground in some areas, harming everyone who depends on the basin’s water. giving.
The case is Arizona’s latest lawsuit against a foreign company that uses large amounts of groundwater to grow thirsty feed crops for export, citing climate problems in other countries. Rural Arizona has no groundwater pumping regulations, making it particularly attractive to international companies.
The lawsuit alleges that Fondomonte has mined large amounts of water since 2014, accelerating the depletion of the basin’s aquifers. The company is a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almarai.
“We find the Attorney General’s allegations completely without merit and will vigorously defend any potential lawsuit against Mr. Fondomonte and our rights before the competent authorities,” Fondomonte said in a statement Wednesday. Ta.
“The company has invested significantly to implement the latest conservation techniques and apply environmentally sustainable practices to these established farms,” the company said. “Fondomonte continues to grow responsibly while farming in the state, and the company complies with all state regulations.”
Years of drought have increased pressure on water users across the West, especially in Arizona and other states that rely heavily on the declining Colorado River. The drought has also made groundwater, which has long been used without restriction by farmers and local residents, even more important to users across the state.
“Protecting Arizona’s precious groundwater is certainly important, but this lawsuit could open a can of worms,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of the Kill Water Policy Center at Arizona State University. “Nearly every farm, city, mine, tribe, and power company in the state relies on groundwater.”
Water lawyers said they felt unqualified to address the public nuisance legal theory, but stressed the lack of regulation of groundwater pumping in rural Arizona.
Kathleen Ferris, an Arizona water policy expert and attorney who led the study that led to the current law overseeing groundwater management in the state, said groundwater use in rural areas of the state is subject to “reasonable use rules. It is managed by.”
“Anyone can drill a well and pump groundwater, as long as groundwater access makes sense,” said Ferris, a senior researcher at the Kill Center. “Unfortunately, groundwater use has never been found to be ‘unreasonable’ by a court. This is essentially a rule that benefits the largest landowners with the deepest wells.”
Mays told reporters Wednesday that the Arizona Legislature has known about the groundwater problem for years but has done nothing to fix it.
“Laws regulating groundwater pumping could have prevented this situation, but Congress’s inaction allowed the crisis to escalate,” Mays said. “When Congress fails to protect our most basic resources, the attorney general must step in.”
La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin (R) praised Mays (D) for trying to address the community’s “toughest” concerns.
“I know voters are excited about this, and it means someone is actually paying attention to the real issues here,” Irwin said during a video teleconference press conference Wednesday. Ta.
Mays’ lawsuit alleges that Fondomonte’s actions amounted to a public nuisance under state law that prohibits activities that endanger health, interfere with the use of property, or interfere with the community’s comfortable enjoyment of life and property. claims.
Mr Mays said the company’s groundwater pumping was “unsustainable” and had “devastating consequences” for local people.
“Arizona law is clear: No business has the right to jeopardize the health and safety of an entire community for its own profit,” she said.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the company from drawing further groundwater, saying it is “excessive,” and to establish a sinking fund to cover the cost of damages caused to the company.
Mays said the dollar amount has not yet been determined but will be determined during the litigation process.
Arizona authorities have been shutting down Fondo Monte for more than a year over its use of groundwater to grow feed crops by failing to renew or cancel a lease in western Arizona’s Butler Valley. I’ve been targeting. Some residents there complained that the company’s pumps were threatening their wells.
