Tom Farley, AAR’s Vice President Government Affairs, wrote a letter on behalf of membership to protest the application for a permit to transfer water from Beaver Dam Wash in northern Arizona to the State of Nevada.  Following is the text of that letter.
 

Hon. Thomas Shedden

Hearing Officer

Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings

OAH No. 07-TR001-DWR

Filed electronically at:  TR001@azoah.com

Dear Hearing Officer Shedden:

Thank you for this opportunity to formally submit comments to the above-cited application review.

My name is Tom Farley; I am the Vice President of Government Affairs for the Arizona Association of REALTORS, a statewide business trade association representing twenty local associations statewide and approximately 52,000 members. 

On behalf of the Association, I am writing to protest the application for a permit to transfer water from Beaver Dam Wash in northern Arizona to the State of Nevada.

As you are aware, Arizona statutes require that the applicant submit hydrologic studies showing the probable hydrologic impact on the area from which the water will be transported, A.R.S. § 45-292(B)(6).  The studies included in this application are clearly not adequate, even bordering on irrelevant for the purposes of justifying the transfer of 14,000 acre feet of water to the determent of the current area residents.  Most of the submitted information is old, and not even specific to this proposed transfer.

Clearly, the withdrawal of 14,000 acre feet of water from the Mormon Wells area of the Beaver Dam Wash will have a measurable impact on the area around Beaver Dam wash and potentially cause problems with existing domestic and agricultural wells and area residents.

As you know, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano appointed a Statewide Water Advisory Group (SWAG) which has been meeting for months to address water issues in rural Arizona. The Arizona Association of REALTORS® has been in contact with this statewide stakeholder group as well as actively engaging with the Arizona State Legislature on issues relating to rural Arizona water adequacy and augmentation.  The panel identified Mohave County as one of the most critical water adequacy areas in the state.  The primary concern has been that new users would undercut the water supplies of existing users.  This application would only serve to make that impact worse.

On behalf of Arizona's private property owners and the industry which regularly speaks out on issues which negatively impact their rights, we respectfully request this application be denied in order to prevent unreasonable damage to the Mormon Wells area of the Beaver Dam Wash.

Sincerely,

Tom Farley

Vice President, Government Affairs

Arizona Association of REALTORS