PHOENIX — A judge has rejected a request by a company accused of excessive pumping of groundwater in La Paz County to delay the case while state officials conduct a separate study of the entire area.
In a new ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Minder acknowledged the lawsuit by Attorney General Kris Mayes against Fondomonte Arizona deals with some of the same issues that now confront the Department of Water Resources.
That is because the agency has designated the entire Ranegras Basin — where Fondomonte is growing alfalfa to feed dairy cattle in the Middle East — as an “active management area.” By definition, DWR is now required to determine what regulations to place on groundwater usage.
