Name: Private meetings spark concerns as Arizona considers rules for streams and wetlands
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Private meetings spark concerns as Arizona considers rules for streams and wetlands

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsAn advisory group created by Arizona environmental regulators has been meeting on&nbsp;Zoom to discuss&nbsp;ideas for new state regulations to protect streams and wetlands.&nbsp;&nbsp;The group’s members,&nbsp;including representatives of cities, water suppliers, environmental nonprofits, the mining industry,&nbsp;developers&nbsp;and others, have held three&nbsp;online meetings so far. Copies of their agendas, presentations and meeting summaries are , but it’s not possible to listen in without an invitation. State officials are keeping the meetings private.Environmentalists&nbsp;who weren't invited to take part have&nbsp;denounced what they call a rigged process. They say industries and business interests are&nbsp;overrepresented and that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality seems to be&nbsp;skewing the process in their favor. They argue the closed meetings are part of a troubling pattern in which&nbsp;ADEQ and other state agencies regularly convene&nbsp;groups of influential stakeholders in private to hash out public business.&nbsp;&nbsp;“I asked ADEQ about opening these up, but they say they want people to be able to speak freely,” said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Arizona chapter.“But seriously, what are they saying that they would not want the public to hear?” Bahr said. “Shouldn't whatever people have to say about how a public resource is protected be something the public knows about and has an opportunity to question?”The meetings began after a dramatic shift in federal clean-water regulations. When the Trump administration for many streams and wetlands in January, environmentalists and 17 states challenged the new rule with lawsuits.But Arizona’s Republican leaders supported the change. ADEQ held , in November and February, to receive input on developing a “local control” approach to surface water protections under a “” program, which would need approval by the state Legislature. &nbsp;ADEQ officials also formed the Stakeholder Advisory Group this spring. The agency&nbsp;plans to use input from both the public meetings and the advisory group in outlining preliminary recommendations.In keeping the group’s talks private, ADEQ officials have cited provisions of the state’s Open Meeting Law and the Arizona Agency Handbook, which allow for closed-door discussions if an advisory group is created by a single agency head (in this case ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera) and if the group is not “part of an official act to pursue legal authority.”The Stakeholder Advisory Group’s role is to assist ADEQ by reviewing comments from the public meetings and “providing advice regarding state program options,” said Caroline Oppleman, ADEQ’s communications administrator.The advisory group “is not a decision-making body,” Oppleman said in an email. Instead, its input “will inform ADEQ’s program outline of guiding principles, goals, and key elements to protect certain surface waters in Arizona not covered by federal protections.”Before completing a plan for the program, Oppleman said, ADEQ will “seek stakeholder and public input on the plan and consider input from all parties involved.” She said the department is also receiving input from other state agencies, neighboring states and tribes.The group’s includes representatives of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, the Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, the Arizona Cattle Feeders' Association, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Arizona Farm Bureau and the Arizona Mining Association, among other organizations.Nine members are from business groups, while others include Salt River Project, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association and the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona. There are also representatives of conservation groups including Environmental Defense Fund, Grand Canyon Trust and the Nature Conservancy.The Sierra Club wasn’t among those invited to participate.Bahr said the private discussions are part of a troubling pattern. Bahr has been working for the Sierra Club in Arizona for more than two decades, and she said she’s seen a big change over the past 10 years, with more state-convened groups meeting in private.&nbsp;Another example, Bahr said, was the series of discussions that led to in early 2019.“Even when they finally had a public process, they broke into smaller groups that were not public,” she said.Earlier this year, the Sierra Club unsuccessfully fought against a bill that outlaws the release of data about endangered species on private land. The bill, , was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and by Gov. Doug Ducey. &nbsp;The new law makes confidential any data that state or municipal agencies —&nbsp;or anyone acting their behalf —&nbsp;collect from property owners about endangered species on their land. Any such data collected, whether as part of a survey, research or conservation plan, now becomes confidential. And under the law, anyone who discloses confidential data can be fined $25,000.“Keeping information secret is a big deal,” Bahr said.She said the bill, modeled after a rule&nbsp;in Texas, limits information available for vital decisions about threatened species and limits the public’s ability to hold state agencies accountable. &nbsp;“If information is collected by the state for the public using public dollars, then the public should have access to that information,” Bahr said. “Both this bill and the process that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is using demonstrate a disturbing trend and a troubling attitude toward public information and involvement.”In forming the advisory group, Oppleman said ADEQ reached out to a variety of organizations “representing a wide range of water quality interests” to convene a group that would offer diverse perspectives and maintain “a functional and effective level of participation that fosters open dialogue.” She said ADEQ asked the organizations to recommend individuals who could share their expertise and views, and “represent the best interests of the general public.”These meetings would normally occur in person. But while Arizona was under a stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus pandemic, ADEQ organized virtual meetings online. The first, on April 1, was held through GoToWebinar. The other two meetings, on April 22 and May 6, were on Zoom.So far, the advisory group has reviewed draft goals and prioritized “proposed statements,” among other things, Oppleman said. The group will continue to meet to help state officials develop a “draft program outline,” which will include considering the scope of Arizona’s program.The Trump administration for many creeks and washes under its new Navigable Waters Protection Rule, scrapping a regulation that was put in place by the Obama administration.In 2015, the Obama administration had expanded the government’s authority to regulate wetlands and streams under its Waters of the United States rule, or WOTUS. That measure was criticized by Republicans and business groups, among them developers and farmers, who called the&nbsp;rule an overreach by the federal government.The rollback will especially affect regulation of ephemeral streams, which flow intermittently when it rains but otherwise sit dry much of the year.In Arizona, the new rule will take away federal protections under the Clean Water Act for the vast majority of riparian areas that were previously regulated, from arroyos to wetlands to desert washes.This abrupt shift in government regulation is occurring against the backdrop of climate change, which is and adding to the battery of human-caused pressures weighing on animals from to to . &nbsp;Environmentalists have warned that Arizona may be losing protections for more than 90% of its water bodies under the new federal rule, which could help fast-track development and mining projects, potentially leaving streams vulnerable and accelerating extinctions of endangered species.Environmental groups have fought back in court, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The rollback of clean-water protections is, according to the New York Times, one in a list of that the Trump administration is reversing, revoking or rolling back. &nbsp;Seventeen states, from California to Maryland, are to challenge what they call an illegal assault on the Clean Water Act. New Mexico is part of the case and says in that approximately 89% of the state's rivers and streams are ephemeral and that none of these streams will be protected under the Trump administration’s new rule.Arizona didn’t join the case. Attorney General Mark Brnovich supports the new federal rule.“As someone who grew up here in Arizona, I appreciate the need to protect our water,” Brnovich said in an emailed statement. “Arizona policy makers should do everything they can to preserve our natural resources.”To develop a new state program, ADEQ officials say they will that starts with requesting the Legislature’s approval to proceed.If legislators pass a law giving the go-ahead, ADEQ would then seek approval to develop administrative rules to implement the program, Oppleman said. The state rulemaking process would involve additional public participation, including a comment period and a public hearing.During the process, Oppleman said, the advisory group may provide input and review draft language of a proposed rule. Alongside this work, she said, there would be opportunities for public input.“ADEQ is going above and beyond,” Oppleman said. “ADEQ recognizes the importance and value of stakeholder input and is engaging the public in an in-depth, collaborative approach starting before the required public process.” Members of the advisory group said they’re pleased to be offering input.“We know there are very important rivers, streams and other waterways in Arizona set to lose protections,” said Haley Paul of Audubon Arizona, who represents the Water for Arizona Coalition. “We appreciate ADEQ's efforts to cover this gap. Along with the ongoing public stakeholder process, we are hopeful that our input helps create a state waterways protection program that safeguards Arizona’s water quality.”Representatives of Arizona businesses, who had pushed back against what they considered federal overreach under the Obama administration’s rule, have supported addressing the matter at the state level. &nbsp;&nbsp;“For this process, we don’t have any preconceived notions of what outcomes ought to emerge,” said Garrick Taylor of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We are happy to be involved in conversations with other stakeholders to assess what —&nbsp;if any —&nbsp;steps the state should consider when it comes to ‘navigable waters.’”Others who aren’t involved say they’re concerned about the talks occurring out of public view.Peter Else, who leads the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance, said his group participated in public discussions of an earlier proposal under which ADEQ would have taken over authority that are intended to protect rivers and streams from construction, road-building and other development.Else said he thinks the main reason why ADEQ officials later authority was that they were assured by the Trump administration that the Waters of the U.S. rule “would be gutted to the point that the Clean Water Act would be rendered ineffective” on most Arizona waterways.That left ADEQ, he said, with a public relations task of “presenting the appearance of filling the gap.”“But make no mistake, ADEQ has made it clear for the past three years that they regard permit applicants, not riparian conservation interests, as their customer base,” Else said in an email. “They used that ‘customer’ term repeatedly during the Clean Water Act public meetings, and it was clear they were talking about permit applicants, such as mining interests and developers, not members of the public who are interested in protecting the last remaining natural waterways in Arizona.”Else’s all-volunteer group focuses on conservation efforts along the San Pedro River. He said ADEQ’s process should be open to the public throughout.“Our group is extremely concerned about this rigged process,” he said. “We have no direct voice in the current discussions.”Bahr said state officials ought to be allowing the public to hear what’s discussed.“They should give deference to the maximum sunshine on all that they do,” Bahr said. “ADEQ should do the public's business in public, not behind closed doors.”What concerns her most is the rationale of holding meetings in private so people “can speak freely.” If representatives of some groups feel they couldn’t otherwise speak frankly about certain topics, she said, “then maybe it’s just not appropriate for a meeting in which you’re supposed to be doing the public’s business.”The way things stand now, Bahr said, industry representatives are overrepresented and have disproportionate influence in the process. She said she’s concerned this could skew the outcome in their favor, and against protecting streams and wetlands.Have a tip to share? Reach reporter Ian James at or 602-444-8246. Follow him on Twitter: Support local journalism:&nbsp; today.&nbsp;Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment&nbsp;on , and .View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsAn advisory group created by Arizona environmental regulators has been meeting on&nbsp;Zoom to discuss&nbsp;ideas for new state regulations to protect streams and wetlands.&nbsp;&nbsp;The group’s members,&nbsp;including representatives of cities, water suppliers, environmental nonprofits, the mining industry,&nbsp;developers&nbsp;and others, have held three&nbsp;online meetings so far. Copies of their agendas, presentations and meeting summaries are , but it’s not possible to listen in without an invitation. State officials are keeping the meetings...

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Private meetings spark concerns as Arizona considers rules for streams and wetlands

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