By Jim Seckler | The Daily News
Mohave County will ask a law firm to set a new hearing in Superior Court concerning the decision to transfer water rights.
The board of supervisors will look to have Munger Chadwick P.L.C. introduce new evidence, including an expert witness, to appeal the transfer of water rights in the Planet Ranch to a copper mine. The Arizona Department of Water Resources previously denied the county’s objections to the transfer. The cost would be about $70,000 in legal fees.
The Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Act of 2014 passed the U.S. House and the Senate and was signed into law in December. The legislation allows the transfer of Planet Ranch and Lincoln Ranch water rights, located along the Bill Williams River in the eastern part of the county, to a copper mine in Bagdad in Yavapai County.
The city of Scottsdale and Freeport-McMoRan Copper own Planet Ranch and parts of Lincoln Ranch. Freeport owns and operates the copper mine.
