Environmental leaders discuss goals for Arizona legislative session

With the upcoming Arizona legislative session, environmental leaders Sandy Bahr, DIrector of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, and Vania Guevara, Advocacy and Political Director of Chispa Arizona, joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk about what they hope to see this year.

“Has our water situation improved? No…our groundwater is being depleted throughout Arizona, we’ve got shortages on the Colorado River,” Bahr said, “…we need a legislature to step up, and do it’s job.”

Guevara emphasized how her goals every session is to ensure that their member’s voices are heard and that the ideas being put forward has good solutions to help combat.

“We’ve seen unfortunately a lot of our legislatures listen to utility companies over the interest of every day Arizonans,” Guevara said.

Many of Chispa Arizona’s members rely on Arizona’s public transportation, so in the summer, many kids are forced to walk through the heat.

“Relying on heat mitigation efforts is something that’s gonna be incredibly important this upcoming year,” Guevara explained, “…every year we see temperatures keep rising.”

Bahr discussed how the legislature hasn’t accomplished what it needed to in regards to water, as a result a number of politicians have taken action. The governor has used her authority to conduct active management areas, and the attorney general has filed litigation relative to some of the big pumpers on ground water.

“The more they defund programs, the less we have for infrastructure, and it means you have infrastructure that ages,” Bahr said, “…and costs a lot more when you need to invest in it.”

Bahr explained how there is a lot of planning when it comes to dividing up the Colorado River, as the upper and lower basin must come to an agreement.

“…but how are we going to help address the Colorado River system, which is on the verge of collapse,” Bahr discussed, “…and acting like climate change doesn’t exist isn’t an answer.”