If you are of a certain age, or just like watching old Saturday Night Live reruns you might remember Chevy Chase’s Weekend Update in the mid-’70s. He would come on week after week with the news flash that the Spanish dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco, “was still dead.” Which reminds me of the Arizona Water Authority . . .
Two months after I wrote the article Is the Arizona Water Authority DOA? IS THE ARIZONA WATER AUTHORITY DOA? (cactusreports.com) the Arizona Water Authority is still dead. The governor’s office proposes to spend $1 billion on this project out of a budget that will probably top $13 billion. That looks like a hefty amount for just one item in the state’s general fund budget.
Saturday Night Live: Chevy Chase
Negotiations are going behind the scenes to find just enough compromises to get the Arizona Water Authority (AWA) and the bill to fund it, SB1611 sponsored by Sen. Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye), over the finish line.
Aside from the details of the initial draft proposal, the politics prove difficult as well. In a closely divided House and Senate, just one Republican defector can sink a bill Gov. Doug Ducey desperately wants. Democrats in both houses have voiced concerns over the lack of conservation measures in the bill. Both Democrats and Republican members have reservations about the price tag, transparency issues and the lack of accountability of a board that would hand out huge contracts.
As initially proposed, the AWA would have wide-ranging powers to operate desalination plants, market water, fund infrastructure projects and enter into contracts without legislative review if they are under $100 million. As one legislator commented, “There will probably be lots of $99 million contracts.”
In addition, the language of this yet-to-be-filed bill has no stated purpose or mission. It simply creates another independent agency much like the Arizona Commerce Authority to wheel and deal in the water arena. Who could say what would happen if the measure passed? Would the state own these new water supplies, or would there be some public/private partnership dominated by interests that would let the water flow to the highest bidder? Would the AWA have a serious conservation component to finance water-saving projects, or would lawmakers simply put in a little conservation window dressing to mollify opponents?
Closed doors
Photo by Ciao Anita!
Behind the door negotiations may attempt to deal with some of these issues and the rumor is that new language will come out soon. If, however, along with the transparency and accountability legislators reach no major agreement on conservation issues the bill WILL STILL BE DEAD!
If the legislative wheels keep getting stuck in the mud and cannot get traction, I have heard that the legislature could pass the billion-dollar SB1611 and use it as a funding placeholder until lawmakers can come up with an agreement. Some members have proposed waiting until after the August 2nd primary, or even after the general election on November 8th. The governor does not want to wait that long. He has stated he will not sign a budget without the AWA. He knows as a lame duck he will have little leverage after the lawmakers pass a budget and the legislative session concludes.
STUCK!
Photo by alexander.zyablits
While it could fill a niche, the AWA cannot even begin to backfill the water Central Arizona has lost to the Colorado River cutbacks. A bi-national report used by the governor’s office concludes that two side-by-side plants in Rocky Point, Mexico would cost about $3-4 billion and each one would annually produce approximately 100,000 acre-feet for their respective partners. As we head toward a Tier 2 shortage, which many assume the US Bureau of Reclamation will declare in August, Central Arizona will have lost a total of 592,000 acre-feet of its Colorado River annual allotment. This figure does not even include the 500,000 acre-feet of voluntary cuts borne by Arizona, California and Nevada to prop up Lake Mead this year!
Without conservation, the AWA is attempting to fill up a bucket with a giant leak. The legislature could work out a deal, but without a serious conservation component such as Rep. Regina Cobb’s (R-Kingman) Rural Management Area concept, THE ARIZONA WATER AUTHORITY IS STILL DEAD!