Saudi Company Officially Stops Using Arizona Water

Farming

The Saudi Arabian-backed company Fondomonte Arizona is officially no longer using the state’s water resources. 

According to the governor’s office, the State Land Department inspected the company’s land leases in western Arizona’s Butler Valley on Feb. 15, which determined that it was no longer irrigating. The company was estimated to have pumped over 5.3 billion gallons of groundwater in 2022, according to Arizona’s Family. 

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Arizona Gov. Hobbs Cancels Saudi Land Deal Allowing Outsized Water Use

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has canceled a deal giving a subsidiary of a Saudi Arabian company free groundwater to grow cattle feed and send it back to the Middle East amid prolonged drought in the Southwest.

The lease in question was a State Land Department deal in La Paz County signed before Hobbs was in office that didn’t reflect unlimited rights to the water under the surface. The company used the state land to grow alfalfa, a water-intensive crop, and ship it back to the Middle East to feed cattle. Saudi Arabia mostly banned the growing of alfalfa in 2018 due to the water necessary to raise the crop.

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Wisconsin U.S. Senator Ron Johnson Leads Efforts to Seek Records on Saudi Arabia’s Role In 9/11 Attacks

On this 22nd anniversary of 9/11, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is demanding the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation turn over the complete, unredacted records of Saudi Arabia\’s role in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

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Gov. Hobbs Unsure About Canceling Saudi Company’s Arizona Alfalfa Farm Despite Ties to Campaign

Governor Katie Hobbs said canceling state leases to a Fondomonte, a foreign company that grows water-hungry alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia to feed cattle, was complex, asserting that some have asked Arizona to “unilaterally yank one lease” while allowing other, similar leases to continue in a recent interview. The governor did not comment on her campaign’s connection to Fondomonte, but gave detailed reasons why terminating the lease would be a complicated issue.

Hobbs stressed that ending the lease to Fondomonte is complicated because, “It would be treating one leaseholder differently than others,” in an interview with The Arizona Republic. Hobbs continued, “We can’t just unilaterally yank one lease because we don’t like that alfalfa’s going to Saudi Arabia.”

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Saudi Company Draining Arizona’s Water Hires Business Partner of Hobbs’ Top Campaign Advisor as Lobbyist, Who Quits After Uproar

Saudi Arabian company Fondomonte has come under fire recently for using large amounts of water in Arizona for its alfalfa farms, obtained through a very inexpensive land lease. Despite the outraged responses, a lobbying firm connected to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs signed a contract representing the company two months ago — which suddenly ended, likely due to the negative publicity. Hobbs has a mixed record on allowing Fontomonte to continue draining Arizona’s water.

Kari Lake tweeted on July 27, “A Saudi Arabian company has been exporting Arizona water overseas despite our historic drought. They just hired the business partner of @katiehobbs’ TOP campaign adviser to lobby for them. This is corruption in broad daylight. Hobbs is selling Arizona out to the highest bidder. And I will fight like hell to stop her.” 

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Heat Wave Causing Refinery Outages and Contributing to Gas Price Surge, Analyst Says

Last week, gas prices reached an 8-month high in the U.S. at $3.714 per gallon, following a high volume of production cuts from OPEC. That number has since increased, which an analyst pinned directly on the ongoing heat wave taking place throughout the country.

On Monday, gas averaged $3.757 per gallon, up more than 16 cents from a week ago, according to AAA. Patrick De Haan, the lead petroleum analyst at the fuel savings site GasBuddy, explained how the heat wave contributed to this uptick.

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Commentary: Even Corporate Media Is Calling Out Biden’s Absurd Economic Fairytales

With only days left until the midterm elections, the advertising blitz from the political spin doctors has reached a fever pitch and the sound bites we’re hearing aren’t very sound, especially the ones from the White House on the economy. But heated rhetoric is hardly a replacement for facts and figures so, to borrow a phrase from the show Dragnet, let’s discuss “just the facts, ma’am.”

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Phoenix Congressman Files Bill Taxing Saudi Crop Exports in Arizona

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego wants to impose an excise tax on foreign entities exporting crops from dry parts of the country, an issue Arizona is facing.

The Phoenix Democrat filed the Domestic Water Protection Act of 2022 Thursday. If enacted, it would impose a 300% excise tax on exported crops that need more water than others. 

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Saudi Arabia Confirms That Biden Pressured OPEC to Delay Oil Production Cuts Until November

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a rare statement Wednesday confirming that the Biden administration pressured OPEC+ to delay oil production cuts until November.

The OPEC+ oil cartel, which includes Russia, slashed production by two million barrels per day (bpd) on Oct. 5 prompting the White House to threaten consequences for Saudi Arabia due to the ensuing jump in gas prices. The Saudi Foreign ministry responded on Oct. 12 with a lengthy defense of the decision, resisting pressure amid discussions with the U.S. to delay a decision until November, when it might be too late for the price hike to affect midterm election prospects, according to The Associated Press.

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Biden to Axe Trump Investigations of Secret Foreign Money in Higher Ed, College Groups Say

The Biden administration plans to shutter its predecessor’s investigations into undisclosed foreign funding of U.S. colleges and universities, the subject of years of warnings from elected officials, law enforcement and academic freedom groups, according to higher education lobbyists.

The commitment was recorded in an August letter from a higher ed lobbyist recapping a June 23 virtual briefing by top Department of Education officials for the American Council on Education (ACE) and other university groups, including the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), which includes medical centers and independent research institutes.

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Commentary: Biden Has Conveniently Forgotten His Role in Explosive Gas Prices

President Joe Biden’s attempts to reduce the cause of high gas prices to the war in Ukraine initially, and corporate greed more recently, are disingenuous.

On day one this president clearly stated his opposition to oil and gas production and development. The president’s words and even more so his actions, have serious impacts on the costs of commodities, including oil.

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OPEC to Finally Boost Oil Production Ahead of Biden’s Saudi Arabia Trip

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners agreed to boost oil production on Thursday, backing a plan released earlier this month, ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-July.

In their fifth meeting since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, which sent oil prices skyrocketing to above $100 a barrel for the first time in eight years, OPEC and a group of Russian-led non-OPEC members agreed to raise their collective production by 648,000 barrels a day.

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Israel, Middle East Countries Crafting Deal to Build Regional Defense Network: Report

Israel is in consultations with Middle Eastern countries to install Israeli-made defense systems on their territory, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

Several countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have reportedly negotiated with Israel to obtain a network of sensors that will combat the potential missile threat from Iran, according to Breaking Defense. A shared communications network would theoretically allow participating states to alert others when incoming missiles trigger the sensors, Breaking Defense reported, citing Israeli officials.

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Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Welcome U.K. Prime Minister for Oil Talks After Reportedly Shunning Biden

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to the Middle East to discuss increased oil production with leaders after they reportedly snubbed President Joe Biden’s requests.

Johnson met with United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nayhan on Wednesday and is traveling to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later in the day, according to The Wall Street Journal. Johnson is reportedly set to deliver a message on behalf of the West, urging the two oil-rich nations to boost production.

“The Prime Minister set out his deep concerns about the chaos unleashed by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and stressed the importance of working together to improve stability in the global energy market,” the British government said in a readout of Johnson’s meeting with the UAE leader earlier Wednesday.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: Biden Helping Dictators and Harming Americans

When the Biden administration appeals to Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia for oil but rejects American and Canadian oil and gas production, there is something profoundly wrong.

Why does Joe Biden think dictators are better than Americans? Why send money to Iran instead of Oklahoma – or to Venezuela instead of Texas? If he wants to send money outside the United States, why not send money to Canada rather than Saudi Arabia?

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Report: Biden Requests for Oil Negotiations Ignored by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

The governments of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) allegedly refused to answer phone calls from Joe Biden when he attempted to start up negotiations on the purchase of oil from the two energy-rich nations.

According to the New York Post, an anonymous Biden Administration official said that Biden’s attempts to reach Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan were deliberately ignored by both leaders.

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Newly Declassified Documents Show Extensive FBI Investigation of Saudi Links to 9/11 Attacks

Newly declassified documents from the FBI give a sense of the depth of the bureau’s investigation into potential ties of the Saudi government to the 9/11 terror attacks.

According to The Hill, the FBI investigated how much support Saudi officials — including one at their embassy in Washington — may have given to three Saudis involved in the attacks, including “procuring living quarters and assistance with assimilating in the country.”

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Twitter Is Being Sued for Hiring Spies Who Allegedly Stole Data for Saudi Arabia

A Saudi activist is suing Twitter for allegedly hiring two Saudi spies who, the activist claims, used their positions within the social media company to steal his personal information.

The complaint, filed by activist Ali Al-Ahmed on Wednesday a California federal court, alleges that two Saudi citizens and former Twitter employees, Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Hamad A Alzabarah, used their jobs to access Al-Ahmed’s email addresses, contacts, phone numbers, birth dates, and IP addresses between 2013 and 2015. The two men then sold this information to the Saudi government, the complaint alleged.

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