By Melissa St. Aude | Casa Grande Dispatch
Implementation of a controversial Arizona Department of Water Resources plan to gradually zero out extinguishment credits will be delayed for at least a year.
The delay will give a soon-to-be- formed local water users group time to examine the rule and consider alternatives.
“Things are moving in the right direction,” state Rep. T.J. Shope said. Shope represents Arizona House District 8.
Shope said he and fellow Rep. Frank Pratt were contacted by farmers who want to stop the rule from taking effect.
Many fear the rule will zap the value from farmland throughout the county.
“We’ve been working for several weeks to find a solution and ADWR agreed to our proposal that we start with a delay of the rule,” Shope, R-Coolidge, said.
If not for the delay, the rule would take effect in January and agricultural extinguishment credits would begin a systematic decline of 6 percent annually until they reached zero in 2054. Also called groundwater credits, extinguishment credits are held by farmers and may be sold in full or in part when farm land is retired.
In 2007, the state approved the administrative rule to gradually eliminate credits as part of an effort to protect limited groundwater supplies and prevent over- pumping. Its initial implementation was delayed due to economic conditions.
Critics of the plan believe that as the credits begin to decline, some farmers will sell land quickly before allocation factors fall too far and the land becomes further devalued. They also say the rule amounts to the state unfairly taking something of value from farmers.
The rule does not affect use of the land for agricultural purposes.
A local group named Farmers Against State Takings — a coalition of farmers, residents and agricultural advocates — formed in an effort to get the rule repealed.
Shope and Pratt, R-Casa Grande, will assemble a new local water users group to “work on crafting acceptable solutions to balance the Pinal AMA’s (active management area) water budget,” according to a letter sent to the lawmakers from ADWR Director Sandy Fabritz-Whitney.
The group may include members of the Groundwater Users Advisory Council, but it will not be an advisory council subcommittee, Fabritz-Whitney told the Casa Grande Dispatch.
The five-member groundwater advisory group serves as a liaison between the state water agency and the water using community.
Fabritz-Whitney said any solution the department accepts would need to meet ADWR’s statutory goal of “protecting the agricultural economy for as long as feasible while maintaining water supplies for future municipal and industrial development.”
“We have to be careful not to harm the aquifer,” she said.
But she said she was happy to see the community was willing to look for possible solutions.
A delay of the rule and the creation of an independent advisory group is a starting point, Shope said.
“ADWR has said they want a local decision on this,” Shope said. “Pinal County should determine its own destiny.”
The agricultural community will be represented in the new water users group, according to Pratt.
“The best solution for now is to bring together stakeholders to discuss what’s best for everyone,” he said. “We don’t want anything that might be detrimental in the long run.”
Next year, ADWR will reexamine the rule and the group’s potential alternatives. At that time, a five-year delay may be implemented or an alternative developed, according to the ADWR.
“Hopefully we’ll have a solution,” Fabritz-Whitney said.
City Councilman Dick Powell has been a leader of the effort to repeal the rule.
“This is about what’s right and wrong,” Powell told his fellow council members. “If this kicks down another year, you have people who can’t sell their property, can’t buy property because nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
He said with the delay, farmers could find themselves without a resolution one year from now. “Meanwhile we’ve lost the momentum,” he said. Councilwoman Lisa Fitzgibbons moved to table a vote on the resolution until the council could learn more about the issue and hear from the state.
“I think we need more information from water resources to find out why they set those rules,” Fitzgibbons said. “I want to make sure we are united and the public knows why we are involved.”
The resolution was approved 5-1, with Fitzgibbons opposed.
FAST plans to ask the councils in Eloy, Florence and Coolidge as well as the Pinal Board of Super- visors for similar resolutions calling for a repeal of the rule, FAST spokeswoman Tiffany Shedd told the council.
Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents FAST.
