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I received a query from Arizona State Senator Ron Gould on Sunday asking what are my objections to his SB 1358 (see the comments section following the column "River cities got the gold mine, Kingman got the shaft in 1996 water deal - will history repeat itself?")
The bill would make a very minor change to the language that permits the Mohave County Water Authority's ability to sell the remaining 3,500 acre feet of Kingman's Colorado River water allocation.
As it now stands the water may only be sold to an industrial user that is not served by an urban utility. The change would allow it to be sold to an urban supplier with the caveat that it is earmarked for industrial purposes.
Another bill, HB 2142, would permit the water to be sold to any entity within the county for any municipal or industrial purpose.
I object to both bills. Not because either one is without merit, but because of a lack of accountability on the part of the Mohave County Water Authority, which is charged with the sale of the water rights. And, is directed to spend its funds developing new water resources for Mohave County.
The following is the e-mail I sent to Sen. Gould regarding my reservations about both bills.
Ron,
My objection is not so much to the bill as it is to the empowerment it will give to the Mohave County Water Authority. I cannot support anything that strengthens the hand of the MCWA until a full and public audit of all of its accounts is completed.
The MCWA is a state-appointed agency, but it has no office, no phone number, no Web site and no means of contact except a P.O. Box. The MCWA retains 10 percent of all water rights sales revenues for its “operating budget,” but answers only to the governor, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. In the dozen years of its existence I can find no record of a financial statement ever being filed by the MCWA.
The initial sale of 15,000 acre feet of Kingman water that took place in 1996 has not yet been paid in full. However, the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District and the City of Bullhead City have had full access to that water for free for more than a decade.
That initial sale was at $500 per acre foot. That was less than half the going rate for Colorado River water rights at the time of the sale. MCWA’s legal representative, Maureen George, has publicly stated that if the Authority can find a way to sell the remaining 3,500 acre feet it will sell those at $500 an acre foot. That is one quarter of today’s going rate. The people of Kingman lost more than $7.5 million in revenue on the first sale and stand to lose $5.25 million on the sale of the remaining 3,500 acre feet if the MCWA makes the sale.
Except for Kingman, all the MCWA representatives are from users of Colorado River water. MCWA members profiteered at the expense of Kingman in the initial sale and plan to do so again if they gain freer access to the remaining allocation.
My objection to the MCWA is that it required a Freedom of Information Act request to find out the names of its board members. It has not responded to eight other FOIA requests. Among them are such basic information as its phone number and its mailing address. An FOIA request for when and where open meeting notices are posted was partially answered. The where was addressed, but the when remains a mystery.
The MCWA is a shadow organization operating in a vacuum. It has no financial oversight or accountability. It has a slush fund (operating budget) that should exceed a million dollars (based on its water rights sales to date), but no operating expenses.
Therefore, I oppose anything that may enhance the coffers of the Mohave County Water Authority to any degree until it becomes a more transparent agency and its finances are audited.
Because the MCWA refuses to release basic information for public perusal, I find it very difficult to believe there is no malfeasance. Because it has not collected on debts owed more than a decade, I cannot believe it operates in the best interest of its own members. Because it has an unsupervised budget accessible to a very few people, I cannot believe that in its 13 years of existence no funds have been appropriated in a questionable fashion.
No agency created by the state legislature should be able to control millions of dollars without being accountable for its budget. None of the reports to the Governor, Speaker or President of the Senate available as public records mention dollar amounts. Who oversees this agency’s funds?
Further, in 2007 MCWA members flushed more than 33,000 acre feet of their Colorado River water allocations down the river because they were unable to use the water. Why is there a pressing need to acquire additional water rights when the current allocations far exceed demand?
When Bucknell moved into the new business park in Fort Mojave one its biggest hurdles was obtaining water rights. They were eventually granted by the tribe. But, the MCWA’s 3,500 acre feet of industrial water would have filled the bill. However, since the MCWA has no phone number, no physical address and no Web site, Bucknell could not have known the water rights existed. The MCWA did not seek out the potential buyer even though several members of the Authority were keenly aware that an industrial consumer was available.
In addition, the MCWA has violated state law. ARS 45-2244, the law under which the authority was formed, says: “Any subcontract under this section shall require the Colorado River water delivered pursuant to the subcontract to be used in the county in which the authority is formed.”
According to Federal Register and Bureau of Reclamation records the MCWA has made sales in La Paz County. Maureen George said the BOR required that MCWA transfer water rights to the La Paz entities if it was to obtain a contract for Cibola water rights. The MCWA had three choices. It could pass on the deal because it required the Authority to violate state law; it could seek legislative approval or it could simply break the law. It chose to break the law.
Until such time as this agency achieves the level of transparency expected of any government agency I will oppose anything that helps it strengthen its position.
I invite you to attend the Mohave Republican Forum on May 12. I will be on a panel addressing the House and Senate bills with Mohave County Water Authority representatives Maureen George and Bullhead City Mayor Jack Hakim. Also on the panel will be Kingman Mayor John Salem and County Supervisor Buster Johnson. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Kingman Elks lodge.
If you would like to discuss these water issues in person I will be happy to make myself available at your convenience.
Thank you for your attention,
Ric Swats
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