Saudi

Saudi Water Hogs Evicted From Arizona Alfalfa Farm By Governor

Governor Katie Hobbs declared on October 2 that she’s “revoking the lease of a Saudi owned alfalfa venture that has for years siphoned off state water resources and rattled residents across party lines.” Arizona doesn’t take kindly to Arabs stealing their water.

Saudi water suckers

Last year, news broke that Saudi Arabia didn’t even need to pay for all the water they siphoned away from Arizona’s water table.

They used the precious liquid resource to grow alfalfa with, then shipped the bales back to their home oasis, to feed their own cows.

The controversy wasn’t forgotten and the governor’s office was finally able to formally announcethe immediate cancellation” of a land lease in Arizona’s Butler Valley. The other three leases held by Fondomonte are soon to follow.

They were able to prove that the company ignored what few obligations they had. The Saudi company is “in significant ongoing default of its lease dating back to 2016.

Things are even cleaner with the remaining contracts. “The other three Butler Valley leases, set to expire in February, would not receive renewals.” While sure to anger the Saudi Arabians, it’s the first popular decision she’s made since she got elected. You can’t blame her for gloating about it.

I’m not afraid to do what my predecessors refused to do — hold people accountable, maximize value for the state land trust, and protect Arizona’s water future.

Critical groundwater supplies

With the Colorado river drying up from overuse, every drop of water in Arizona needs to be accounted for. While taking inventory of where the water’s going last year at the peak of the crisis, someone noticed that Saudi Arabia was pumping a whole lot of it, for free.

Fondomonte acquired its Butler Valley leases, which cover about 3,500 acres of land northwest of Phoenix, in 2015. The region is home to critical groundwater supplies, in a desert state that is thirsting for such resources.

Eventually, the “State Land Department conducted site inspections in August and determined that the company had failed to address defaults already identified in November 2016.” The Arabs simply ignored their obligations.

The Saudi Arabians agreed seven years ago to “install a system designed to contain leaks in diesel storage units.” They blew it off. “It’s unacceptable that Fondomonte has continued to pump unchecked amounts of groundwater out of our state while in clear default on their lease.

She’s hoping that Arizona’s lawyers will be smarter than the Arabs because her decision can be appealed and probably will. The same Saudi company “has another 9,834 acres in Vicksburg, about 20 miles due south of Butler Valley.” Fondomonte is just a subsidiary of “Arabian dairy giant Almarai.” It turns out that alfalfa is “a highly water-intensive crop.

Water is something they have even less of than Arizona in their home country. They themselves were forced to put in effect “a near ban” on “cultivating green fodder” in November 2018. With all the free water in Arizona, they could supply “the highest quality alfalfa.

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