By Kiera Riley | State Affairs
A judge declined to completely halt proceedings in the attorney general’s public nuisance lawsuit against Fondomonte Arizona and instead directed the parties to align with the Arizona Department of Water Resource’s Active Management Area (AMA) timeline.
In late 2024, Attorney General Kris Mayes sued Fondomonte, a Saudi-owned alfalfa farm in the Ranegras Plain Basin in La Paz County, under state public nuisance law, claiming the company’s groundwater pumping had led to dry wells, land subsidence and worsening water quality.
But, in the midst of litigation, the department designated the basin as an AMA, which kickstarts the tracking and regulation of the basin’s groundwater and its users, and places the area under new regulatory oversight.
Fondomonte argued to a judge that the AMA designation effectively negated the need for the public nuisance lawsuit and contended Mayes overstepped her authority by seeking groundwater regulation through litigation.
The company asked to stay proceedings until the department issues a management plan that provides more insight into the state of groundwater and Fondomonte’s usage in the basin.
