Arizona farms and municipalities want a judge to let them fight in court against Attorney General Kris Mayes in her quest to stop a Saudi Arabian-owned company from pumping the state’s groundwater.
Fondomonte has operated in Arizona for more than a decade, growing alfalfa with groundwater and using it to feed cattle.
Mayes sued the company in December of last year in Maricopa County Superior Court on claims its groundwater pumping is a “public nuisance,” but a coalition of Arizona farmers, cities and other stakeholders want to intervene, saying the outcome of the lawsuit will affect them too if Mayes succeeds in blocking Fondomonte from pumping groundwater.
Attorney Bradley Pew spoke on behalf of the stakeholders, which include the Arizona Farm and Ranch Group and the Arizona Cattle Feeders Association.
“The court should consider the political and practical realities of this case. It's an open attempt to change Arizona law with respect to groundwater and other cases are going to be filed if this case is successful. And it's not just the AG we're concerned about, it's others that might bring private nuisance claims or public nuisance claims,” he told Judge Scott Minder.
Mayes, a Democrat, has made it clear that she considers it a failing of the Republican-controlled state Legislature that there are not stricter groundwater protections in state law, which is precisely why she’s taking the unusual route of coming after Fondomonte on the basis of public nuisance laws.
“I find it utterly stunning and irresponsible that the legislature left that building without doing anything really significant on rural groundwater, and it's why these lawsuits that we're doing are necessary,” Mayes said in an exclusive interview last month.
She’s also indicated that this is not the only lawsuit she intends to file on the topic of regulating groundwater.
But Pew said the Legislature has the power to create stricter water laws and that’s where this issue should play out, not in court.
“The Arizona attorney general brought this lawsuit because it perceived a legislative failure in how the Groundwater Management Act regulates rural groundwater use. That should be a legislative debate, not a judicial debate,” Pew said.
In court on Tuesday, Mayes’ attorney, Clinten Garrett, argued the case is specifically about Fondomonte and would have no effect on those who want to involve themselves.
“If you're concerned about precedent; you have a generalized interest. You're not trying to protect or defend against the direct legal effect from the case that you're intervening in,” Garrett said of the prospective intervenors.
Attorney Briana Campbell represents Fondomonte and spoke in support of adding the coalition into the lawsuit.
“If Fondomonte acting within the law can be held as a public nuisance, and by the state of Arizona through the usurping of the legislature, then so can every other farmer in Arizona,” Campbell said.
Minder said his goal is to issue a ruling on the matter in a “day or two.” The matter is currently under advisement.
