Attorney general demands Arizona water director act on Saudi company’s well
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is demanding that state water officials revoke a deep water well drilling permit issued to a controversial Saudi Arabian company in rural Arizona. The Arizona Department of Water Resources in July authorized Fondomonte to drill a new well for irrigation on the company’s private land in La Paz County, state records show. The company previously gained notoriety for its leasing of several tracts of state land in western Arizona where it had been allowed to pump groundwater unchecked. One of those leases was canceled by the State Land Department and 2023, and three others expired earlier this year. … Mayes’ missive brought a heated response that evening from the office of Buschatzke’s boss, Gov. Katie Hobbs. A spokesperson called it “empty grandstanding” and said Mayes’ earlier rhetoric had been cited in Fondomonte’s legal appeal of the cancellation of its leases.
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