Six conservation groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service over a massive planned community in Benson, Arizona. The lawsuit states the development threatens several endangered species and their habitats.
The development would sit about two miles from the San Pedro River, which is the last major free-flowing river in the Southwest.
The plaintiffs, which include the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club, are concerned that the new community would transform largely undeveloped habitat and would rely on groundwater pumped from aquifers that feed the San Pedro River.
The proposed community would sit about 45 miles southeast of Tucson and include 28,000 homes.
