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Al Edson. Today,

1:01

we're talking about something so essential

1:03

to daily living that

1:06

for this man, it's more precious than gold. Gold

1:08

is worth quite a bit. Water

1:10

is worth more than gold if you don't have it.

1:14

Wayne Wade is a retired industrial

1:16

electrician. He's worked in mines,

1:18

gas plants, and oil fields. And

1:21

after his kids grew up, he and his wife settled

1:23

in La Paz County, Western Arizona.

1:26

They fell in love with the desert. You

1:29

have to be here year round to

1:31

see the seasons. And when the plants

1:33

bloom, it's just something you don't get

1:35

any place else. But

1:37

then the water level in their well started

1:40

dropping each year, forcing them

1:42

to go deeper into the earth. It

1:45

was expensive, tens of thousands

1:47

of dollars. At the

1:50

same time, industrial mega farms were moving

1:52

into their community and growing

1:54

crops to send overseas. I

1:56

was raised on a farm. I'm

1:58

not against farming. so

8:00

they're able to pump as much as they can

8:02

get. Abby York is

8:04

a land use expert at Arizona State

8:06

University. She met us at Al

8:08

Marais. I asked Abby if the

8:10

groundwater here might run out one day. There's

8:13

definitely concern that within a 50 years, few

8:16

decades, that water levels will have dropped

8:18

significantly. So if you look at some

8:20

of the policy reports from the state,

8:22

that's what they're indicating. That

8:26

means within a generation or two, this

8:28

part of Arizona could go dry. And

8:31

the Saudis' hay operation just accelerates

8:33

this problem. Arizona's

8:36

groundwater law from 1980 limits

8:39

pumping in big cities like Phoenix.

8:41

But in many rural areas, like

8:43

La Paz County, water use

8:46

is not regulated. And

8:48

this is where Al Marais has moved in.

8:51

There's no way that we can change

8:53

how they're using this land. If

8:55

there were problems, it would be very difficult to

8:57

stop. So the decisions are wherever

8:59

the corporate headquarters are in this case

9:02

in another country. If I'm

9:04

understanding you correctly, the local land

9:06

use here, the local decisions on how

9:08

much water to use is actually being

9:10

made in Riyadh. Yeah,

9:13

so right. We

9:16

were really surprised by this, that in

9:18

the middle of a drought, an executive

9:20

halfway around the world is making decisions

9:22

that might deplete the aquifers here. We

9:25

wondered if people were flipping out about this.

9:27

So we went to Kirby's Country Market, just

9:30

a few miles from the Saudi farm. And

9:32

we asked locals if they cared that the

9:34

Saudis were buying land here. No,

9:36

if whoever they could sell it to, I mean,

9:39

they're welcome to sell it to whoever they want.

9:41

If I knew exactly where it's going, that could

9:43

make a difference to me. Would it make a

9:45

difference if it was going to Saudi Arabia? No,

9:47

it wouldn't make any difference to me. If it

9:49

was going to Saudi Arabia, that'd be fine. No,

9:51

no, no, no. Don't

9:55

bother me then. They got to make

9:57

money. That's out there to make money,

9:59

that's what they're for. Are you at all concerned

10:01

about water? Well, I worry about

10:03

losing water, yeah, because water tables go down

10:05

every year. And we're afraid we're going to

10:07

run out of water here, one of these

10:09

days. Saudi Arabia

10:11

knows what happens if you farm the

10:13

desert too long. About

10:15

30 years ago, the Saudis began digging deep

10:18

under the sand for something other than oil.

10:21

You bring in enough dollars and

10:23

find enough water, and you'll grow

10:26

the desert green until either

10:28

the dollars become scarce or the

10:30

water runs out. That's

10:33

Elie Elhaj. He's a former CEO

10:35

of a major Saudi bank. He

10:37

also wrote a critical report about

10:39

Saudi Arabia's foray into agriculture. He

10:42

called it, camels don't fly, deserts

10:44

don't bloom. There is

10:46

no magic in turning the desert

10:49

green. With the groundwater,

10:51

Saudi Arabia became an agricultural

10:54

powerhouse. The Saudi desert

10:56

became the sixth largest exporter

10:59

of wheat in the world. Elie

11:02

says exporting crops like wheat and

11:04

hay is the same thing as

11:07

exporting water. Agricultural goods

11:09

are encapsulation of water,

11:12

virtual water. So

11:15

why would a country with so little

11:17

water become the world's sixth biggest exporter

11:19

of wheat? Well,

11:25

frankly, it's crazy. And

11:27

time really proved that it

11:29

was an insane decision. Saudi

11:35

Arabia has nearly run out of groundwater.

11:38

And dairy companies like Al

11:40

Marai have been told to

11:42

begin growing nearly all their

11:44

hay in other places like

11:46

Sudan, Ethiopia, Argentina, and Arizona.

11:49

All of it will get shipped back home to

11:51

feed their dairy cows. We

11:54

reached out to Al Marai and the Saudi

11:56

government for comment on our story, but they

11:58

declined. The

12:00

line is that the current

12:02

generation sucked the aquifers dry

12:05

to deny future generations

12:07

of their rightful endowment.

12:10

Saudi Arabia isn't the only one running low on

12:12

water. Other countries like China and

12:14

India are discovering they don't have enough farm

12:17

water to meet growing demands either. And

12:19

like the Saudis, they're looking overseas, putting

12:21

increased strain on the world's water. As

12:27

Nate and I were driving away from the

12:29

Saudi farm, we noticed another big farm along

12:32

the road. The name of it? Aldara.

12:35

What appears to be another Middle Eastern

12:37

company has come out here and has

12:39

started up a huge other hay operation.

12:42

We pulled in where we saw a line

12:44

of semis all being filled with hay. So

12:47

we climbed up to a truck driver's window to talk.

12:49

That makes it a lot easier for us. Yeah, yeah,

12:51

yeah. Thank you. I never get to

12:53

see in sound waves. This 18-wheeler was being loaded

12:56

with 44,000 pounds of hay. And

12:59

he told us it was going to a shipping

13:01

port in California. And from there, onto China. We

13:04

went inside the small office and met

13:07

Nathan Melton, the farm's manager. Nathan

13:09

has deep roots here. His family farmed

13:11

in Arizona for generations, growing melons,

13:13

cotton and other crops. You

13:16

know, I'm not in the family business no

13:18

more. This is all corporate farming now. This

13:20

is different. How long ago

13:22

did the folks start leasing this land? We've

13:25

been here two years now. And

13:27

who do they lease it from? It's

13:30

IFC. It's a big

13:32

corporation out of North Carolina. Corporations

13:36

are tapping into free and unregulated water

13:38

supplies in rural counties like La Paz

13:40

and growing crops that are shipped

13:43

halfway around the world. You

13:45

know, if we were going to say we were

13:47

going to ship hay overseas back then, you would

13:49

have laughed. But that's what we

13:51

do and makes money. You know,

13:53

lots changed over the last 10, 15 years. That

14:00

story was from Nate Halverson and Akshri

14:02

Skandarajah. In a moment,

14:04

Nate follows the money flowing into

14:07

the International Farming Corporation. It's

14:09

a billion-dollar investment firm with

14:11

some surprising investors. And then

14:13

you start connecting the dots on some of this stuff

14:16

and you start thinking, oh my God, I can't make

14:18

this up. That's

14:20

coming up next on Reveal. Support

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15:51

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15:54

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PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al

16:27

Lettz. Reveals,

16:30

Nate Halvorson has been investigating the

16:33

global battle for water. Water

16:35

we drink, water we use to grow crops,

16:38

and water that in many parts of

16:40

the world is disappearing. Like

16:42

in Arizona, where in 2015, Nate

16:45

found corporate mega farms were moving

16:47

into the desert and pumping out

16:50

massive amounts of water from the

16:52

state's endangered aquifers to grow hay.

16:54

Nathan Halvorson is the first reporter to break

16:57

this story in the national press. A

16:59

dairy company based in a country known

17:01

for its huge oil supplies is after

17:03

something even more precious in Arizona, water.

17:06

There is no cost for the water being

17:08

pumped from the wells or restrictions on how

17:10

much they use. Media coverage

17:12

at the time was focused on Al

17:14

Marai, the dairy company from Saudi Arabia

17:16

that quickly became one of the biggest

17:19

water users in the state. The

17:21

people of La Paz County, where all this was

17:23

happening, they were getting angry. I

17:26

know that there's areas that are being

17:28

farmed now that were not farmland two

17:30

years ago. Large, large tracks,

17:33

miles and miles of green that wasn't

17:35

there two years ago. How

17:37

is that possible? This tape is

17:39

from a meeting in La Paz with members

17:41

from the state's water department. The

17:43

hall was packed and tense, with

17:46

armed sheriff's deputies keeping close watch.

17:49

You're saying it's perfectly legal for these

17:51

people to come in here, and to

17:53

drain the aquifer and the

17:55

local people have to re-drill their wells

17:57

that they've lived there for years? to

18:00

move on. But yes, it is, they're

18:02

not breaking the law. People

18:05

told the officials more and more wells

18:07

were running dry, and they

18:09

were blaming the new mega farms. Holly

18:12

Irwin, a county supervisor, tried to empathize

18:14

and respond to what she was hearing.

18:17

I feel your pain. I want

18:19

conservation measures put in place so

18:21

we can all grow as a

18:23

community, where you guys can

18:25

stay here and so can they. But

18:28

we need to do something and something's got to give.

18:31

This meeting was in 2017, and this

18:34

week's show is tracing the surprising twists and

18:36

turns of our story since then. As

18:39

the reality of the situation sank in, it

18:42

motivated Holly, a conservative Republican, to

18:44

do something she'd never done before.

18:47

Take political action on an environmental

18:49

issue to protect the aquifers and

18:51

save the royal way of life

18:53

here in the desert. And

18:56

in the process, she found out what's happening

18:58

here goes way beyond Al

19:00

Mirai. This is where Nate picks up

19:02

the story. Holly

19:06

Irwin came to La Paz County about 30

19:08

years ago to raise a family. We

19:10

love the whole rural, western atmosphere

19:14

of Arizona and enjoy the river

19:16

and all of the outdoor activities

19:18

that comes with it. One

19:22

of her favorites, off-roading with the

19:24

family on four-wheelers through hundreds of

19:26

miles of rocky trails. She's

19:28

shown me videos. You

19:30

just have open desert or we can take trails

19:32

that'll take us through mountain passes and canyons

19:36

and stuff like that. You can just, it's

19:38

amazing, you can just keep going for miles.

19:41

Holly's been barreling over hills and through ditches

19:43

since her dad bought her a minibike at

19:46

age 10. Today, it's just

19:48

a way to let off steam. It's

19:56

called decompressing from dealing

19:58

with all of the stress

20:00

with the water issues that

20:02

we've had here in La Paz County. Holly

20:05

was elected County Supervisor here in 2008. But

20:09

ever since that Saudi hay story came out,

20:11

the water issue has consumed her working life.

20:14

And she wants to take me out into the desert, not on

20:17

her ATV, but in her government

20:19

issued SUV so I can see what's

20:21

been happening since our original story several

20:23

years ago. At

20:25

first, the desert doesn't look much different.

20:27

It's still got its postcard beauty, but

20:30

then abruptly, it all changes. The

20:33

hay, specifically alfalfa hay. Now we're back

20:35

into the alfalfa, as you can see.

20:38

This is all alfalfa. It's depressing. It really

20:42

is. This is the Saudi farm. This is the Saudi farm. Wanted

20:44

to take you by here so you can see

20:46

how much it's changed. The

20:48

fields now cover far more land

20:50

and there's clusters of giant hay

20:52

barns scattered for miles. Those

20:55

didn't exist the first time I was here in

20:57

2015. Holy

20:59

cow. These are hay trucks. And look, they're all waiting

21:01

in line to get in. Those are semi

21:03

trucks that have two trailers behind them and there

21:05

are 30 of them. So that's like 60 semi

21:08

trailers just covered in hay. I

21:11

told you, right? Arizona

21:13

is now exporting nearly 100 times

21:15

as much hay compared to a decade ago. Hay

21:18

brings in a lot of money. It's

21:20

one of the most valuable crops in the U.S. Arizona

21:24

doesn't track hay exports or their impact

21:26

on water, but some researchers at the

21:28

University of Arizona did just that. And

21:31

they estimate that in Arizona, the water

21:33

used to grow exported hay is now

21:36

equivalent to the water used by roughly

21:38

a million people in Phoenix. As

21:42

we drive on, you can see the impact. There's

21:44

a little church who's well went dry and

21:46

a trailer park also with water problems. And

21:50

then we pull over just next to some

21:53

desert homes. Just past one of the encroaching

21:55

farm fields. What's what's happening to people

21:57

out here is domestic wells. These people that have retired out

21:59

here. OK, so if you look out here, I

22:01

know this family that live out here and they've

22:03

had to replace their will twice. Not

22:06

just once, but twice. How much is that? Anywhere

22:08

from 25 to 35,000. That's

22:11

a lot for retirees. It is. It's a lot.

22:15

Not even the government knows how much

22:17

water is left in these aquifers. Holly

22:20

keeps asking the state's water department

22:22

to conduct a hydrologic study, but

22:25

they keep ignoring her. And

22:27

it's an important study because it's the

22:29

only way to know for sure how

22:32

much water is being used, how much

22:34

is left and how long until it

22:36

goes kuput. La

22:40

Paz County is not a wealthy community.

22:42

The average individual income here is 26,000

22:44

a year. Many

22:47

folks are retirees from working class jobs

22:49

and lots of residents live in mobile

22:51

homes and trailer parks or out on

22:53

the open desert. Holly

22:56

says it's this lack of wealth that

22:58

makes the community more vulnerable to having

23:00

its groundwater grabbed. She

23:03

wanted to know when all of this got started

23:05

and who was behind it. So

23:08

she gets the idea to start digging

23:10

into dusty old county records in

23:12

search of answers and she

23:14

leads me into her office to show me. Holly,

23:17

this is so many boxes and so many

23:20

documents. This is a gold mine. I

23:23

had to go back to what we call it the

23:26

dungeon, but you know where we keep historical boxes and

23:28

documents and stuff like that. The dungeon. The dungeon and

23:30

pulled boxes and I went back to the creation of

23:33

our county. Wow.

23:35

When was that? That was in 1982, which I fully believe that we were created

23:37

for that sole purpose. What

23:41

purpose? For water. La

23:45

Paz has been known as a place to mind not gold or oil,

23:47

but water. And in the past, it was the big

23:49

cities coming here for the water. It's an

23:51

old story going back nearly 40 years. That's

23:55

when Phoenix comes calling in 1986. longer

26:00

staying in Arizona. It's being

26:02

shipped overseas in the form of hay.

26:08

I want to hear firsthand what this all

26:10

means for the residents living next to the

26:12

IFC farm. Hi, hey, Mary. So

26:14

I go visit Mary Goodman. Mary

26:16

moved out here about 25 years ago after

26:19

retiring from her nursing job in the Los

26:21

Angeles area. This is a triple

26:24

wide, and we put it in in 2005, did all

26:26

the work ourselves. Mary

26:29

and her husband Bill came out to the desert

26:31

because it was beautiful. And because

26:33

like for a lot of people, this is a

26:35

place where you can afford to live on your

26:37

pensions and savings. This mobile

26:39

home in the desert, it was their

26:41

dream retirement. We've put

26:43

our money, our lives, our

26:46

sweat and blood. So we've

26:48

got everything the way we

26:50

want it. He has a

26:52

nice workshop and I've got

26:54

my plants. It's our

26:56

life. It's their life,

26:59

but the water table is dropping every

27:01

year. Some of their neighbor's

27:03

wells have already gone dry. And

27:05

IFC, it just keeps drilling

27:07

deeper. Now it's down to 1,500 feet. If

27:11

you had to drill your well 1,000 or 1,500 feet, could

27:14

you all afford to? No

27:17

way. Not at $30 a foot. We

27:21

couldn't afford it. It's a race

27:23

for the water, and they can't keep up. Mary

27:25

worries that their well could run out of

27:28

water before, well, before they die. I'm

27:30

75 and my husband's

27:32

12 years older than I am. You know,

27:34

it's like we're getting up towards the end of

27:37

stuff here, folks. I

27:40

just get really nervous. Do we just stay

27:42

here and maybe take comfort and we'll

27:44

be dead before we run out of water because

27:48

we can't live here without water? In

27:52

2022, a state test near the Goodmans found

27:54

the water was dropping about five feet per

27:56

year. And at that rate, the

27:58

Goodmans might only have another... 10

28:00

years of water in their well. And they

28:02

say nobody from the state is out here

28:04

helping folks as their wells go dry. We're

28:07

kind of like the ugly redheaded

28:09

stepchild out here maybe. Nobody

28:12

seems to care. You feel

28:14

powerless. I mean, you live in a place

28:16

where they can give

28:18

your water away. Mary's

28:21

hit on an important point. What's

28:23

happening here goes way deeper than corporate

28:25

mega farms. It's about

28:27

the Arizona water policies that attracted

28:30

these companies in the first place.

28:33

So I go to Arizona State University to

28:35

see a lawyer named Sarah Porter. I'm

28:37

Sarah Porter, director of the Kyle

28:39

Center for Water Policy at ASU's

28:41

Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Sarah

28:44

and I talk nitty gritty about the

28:47

Arizona Groundwater Management Act. It's

28:49

legislation from the 1980s that governs much

28:51

of what happens with Arizona's water today.

28:54

It was a fight to get the law passed. These

28:57

agriculture and mining companies were all competing

28:59

for what they wanted it to say.

29:02

Ultimately, groundwater ends up being regulated

29:04

in urban areas like Phoenix, but

29:06

not in rural areas like La

29:08

Paz. They essentially remain

29:10

free for all. This

29:13

lack of regulation created a business

29:15

opportunity for farm investors to come

29:17

in from around the world. I

29:20

have a newspaper ad that I clipped,

29:22

and it's a color ad, and

29:24

it says water problems come to

29:26

Arizona. We have unregulated water. Yeah,

29:29

that's yeah. Sarah now

29:31

sits on Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs's

29:33

Water Policy Council, which was

29:36

created in 2023 to tackle the issues

29:38

of groundwater in rural areas. She

29:40

says if state lawmakers aren't going to rein

29:43

this in, they should at least be upfront

29:45

about what's happening. If

29:47

it's going to be the policy

29:49

of the state to allow landowners

29:51

to mine out all of the

29:53

groundwater in an aquifer,

29:55

then we should also talk about

29:58

having better keep

32:00

everything in proportion. I don't know what the population of

32:02

La Paz County is off the top of my head,

32:04

but you know, it's like

32:06

30,000. La Paz

32:08

is less than that, 16,000 people. You

32:13

know, part of public journalism is standing up

32:15

for the folks that don't have the power.

32:18

Yeah, yeah. And I hear

32:20

what you're saying that is a small percentage of the

32:22

population. Yeah. But for those folks,

32:24

it's gonna hurt. It doesn't diminish their experience

32:26

that there aren't very many of them. They

32:28

never should have relied on that water. It's

32:30

not their fault that they did, but

32:33

they were relying on a water

32:35

supply that they

32:37

didn't have a right to. You're

32:41

gonna tell me that they don't have a right to have

32:43

water in their homes. Families have

32:45

invested over generations to be here.

32:48

It makes me angry, extremely

32:50

angry. I've

32:53

come back to meet with Holly at her office in

32:55

La Paz. She's frustrated by

32:57

the idea that this is just the

32:59

way it is, and

33:01

also by the inability of Arizona's

33:04

lawmakers to protect water. What

33:06

she wants is the state to determine how

33:08

much water is left in the aquifers and

33:11

give her some local control to

33:13

monitor and set limits if necessary.

33:16

She thinks this is the only

33:18

way to slow the global scramble

33:20

for water and the profit-driven water

33:22

market it's created. You're

33:25

literally fighting money. That's what you're doing.

33:27

You're fighting the rich people. And

33:29

Holly isn't just fighting rich corporations. In

33:32

my reporting, I uncovered something startling.

33:35

The Arizona government itself is investing

33:37

in these mega farms in the

33:39

Western United States. I

33:42

found that the Arizona State Retirement System

33:44

gave $175 million to the International Farming

33:46

Corporation, which

33:50

then used some of the money for the

33:52

mega farm in La Paz County. This

33:56

raises a key question. How

33:59

much did the state know? about

34:01

exactly where its investment money was

34:03

going. I'm wondering if we can go

34:05

over to the county recorder's office because people

34:07

have to file deeds of trust. If

34:10

there's like a mortgage or, you know, who gave

34:12

them the money to buy the land. I mean,

34:15

we can walk over there if you want and

34:17

see. So we head over to the recorder's office

34:19

where land sales and mortgage records are kept. Here

34:22

is our recorder's office. Hey,

34:26

is there a way that we can look

34:28

up an LLC? Yeah. We

34:31

find a computer terminal and start searching.

34:36

At first, it looks like a bust. Yeah,

34:38

Holly, this looks kind of looking like a dead

34:41

end. I can't. Really? There's no, I mean, we

34:43

can see that the year that they bought it,

34:45

which is what we knew. Right. And

34:47

they bought it from the city of Phoenix. And

34:52

there's, you know, easements and sort of,

34:54

you know, mechanical stuff. But there's nothing

34:56

in all of these

34:58

records. And there's 56 documents. Oh,

35:01

wow. Yeah. But there's nothing that

35:03

shows. Wait

35:07

a minute. What's

35:10

this? Arizona

35:12

State Retire. Pull that up.

35:15

Isn't that your pension? Yes. Yes. Holly

35:19

and I are seeing this document for the first

35:21

time. It shows that

35:23

state retirement fund managers knew specifically

35:25

that part of their investment in

35:27

IFC would be used for the

35:30

mega farm here in La Paz, the one that's

35:32

next to the Goodman's home. The

35:34

document even says that if IFC were

35:36

to ever sell its land in La

35:39

Paz, the retirement system wanted

35:41

the right to make the first offer

35:43

to buy it. And it

35:45

was all about making money. Oh, my

35:47

God. Oh, my God. Wow.

35:51

That's wild. I don't know

35:53

why our state retirement would have any part of

35:55

any land deal. Your pension

35:57

fund is the money behind this

35:59

map. And

38:00

with every acre lost, endangered

38:02

species are pushed closer to

38:05

extinction. But you

38:07

can change the future

38:10

of rainforest. Learn how

38:12

at ran.org/rainforest. With

38:15

fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers in

38:17

the wild, there's no time to

38:19

waste. Find out

38:21

how some of the world's

38:24

best-known brands are driving deforestation

38:26

and what you can do

38:28

to stop them at ran.org

38:30

slash rainforest. From

38:37

the Center for Investigative Reporting and

38:39

PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

38:42

Al Ledson. For

38:44

nearly a decade, our reporter, Nate

38:46

Halverson, has been investigating efforts by

38:48

governments and corporations around the globe

38:51

to grab control of water resources.

38:54

It's all part of a new documentary

38:56

aptly called The Grab. In

38:59

Western Arizona, Nate found corporate

39:01

megafarms were threatening local water

39:03

supplies and figured out they

39:05

were being financed by an

39:07

East Coast investment firm, the

39:09

International Farming Corporation. He

39:11

discovered that one of IFC's

39:13

biggest investors was the state

39:16

of Arizona's own retirement system.

39:19

So about this time last year, Nate went

39:21

to Phoenix to try and get answers from

39:23

the state attorney general's office. Hello.

39:26

Hi. How are you? You must be

39:28

Nate. Yeah, Chris. Thanks for taking the time.

39:31

Nice to meet you. I meet Chris Mays

39:33

at her office in downtown Phoenix. The walls are

39:35

lined with photos and mementos from her career as

39:37

a newspaper reporter and attorney. In

39:40

2022, Mays, a Democrat, narrowly

39:43

won election as the state's top

39:45

law enforcement officer. Her

39:47

campaign was about voting rights, public

39:49

safety, and water. If

39:51

there's one thing Arizona depends

39:53

on, it's water. That's

39:56

why I was outraged when I heard that Arizona is

39:58

giving our water to a state that Saudi

40:00

Arabian owned farm to grow crops

40:02

for export back to the Middle

40:05

East for free. Maize

40:07

tells me she used the mega

40:10

farm owned by the Saudi Arabian

40:12

company in her election campaign to

40:14

highlight the absurdities of state water

40:16

policies. This is a story

40:19

at bottom about the

40:22

neglect and negligence of

40:25

state government over a

40:28

number of years. That's

40:30

why so many Arizonans

40:32

say, are you kidding

40:34

me? Why are we

40:37

allowing a Saudi-owned corporation to stick a

40:39

straw on the ground and suck so

40:41

much of our water out and send

40:43

alfalfa back to Saudi Arabia and not

40:45

charge them a dime for the water?

40:49

It is bonkers. If

40:51

it was a movie, you wouldn't believe it.

40:54

The water crisis and how it's

40:56

impacting rural communities touches Maize at

40:58

a personal level. I grew

41:01

up in Western Arizona. My

41:03

family and I would often go

41:06

to a place called the Santa

41:08

Maria River, which is

41:10

barely a river anymore because of

41:12

drought and climate change. But

41:15

I love Western Arizona. I

41:18

pull out some of the documents I've

41:20

uncovered about who's funding IFC. Don't know

41:23

what you found, but knowing

41:25

you, you found something. If you look

41:27

here on page 77 of

41:31

the report, I was able to definitively

41:33

show that state pension fund money went

41:36

into lands being leased by another

41:38

Middle Eastern company that's shipping, growing

41:41

the alfalfa and shipping it overseas to

41:43

China, the Middle East, anywhere, presumably that'll

41:45

pay top dollar for it. Is this

41:47

the Emirati farm? Oh my God.

41:49

And so that is... Can I have a pen? Maize

41:52

squints her eyes and starts taking notes.

41:55

This isn't the Saudi-owned farm that

41:57

she campaigned against. This is

41:59

the farm. company from the United Arab Emirates.

42:02

The Emirati farm is

42:04

actually state pension fund money. State pension

42:06

fund money. So all of you are

42:08

presumably pension fund money. Correct. We're all

42:11

in that pension fund. Yes. I

42:13

mean, as individuals, every state employee

42:15

is. Yeah. So the state employee

42:17

money has gone into exporting the

42:20

state's water. I think

42:22

Arizonans are going to be outraged

42:25

about this. It just

42:27

exacerbates an already terrible

42:30

situation and shows again,

42:33

the abject failure of

42:35

our government to protect our people

42:37

and to protect our future as

42:40

an Arizonan. And as the

42:42

attorney general, this is obviously

42:46

really shocking and

42:49

hard to believe, but

42:51

in a way, maybe not given what's

42:53

going on in the past. I

42:56

ask Mays if it's a conflict of

42:58

interest that state employees who are in

43:00

charge of managing the aquifers are

43:03

also financially benefiting from letting IFC

43:05

pump as much water as it

43:07

wants in La Paz County. That's

43:09

a tough one. I think I'll not comment on that because

43:11

then you really need to think it through and we really

43:14

need to get to the bottom of it. And obviously

43:16

your reporting is going to kickstart that

43:18

process. Mays tells me

43:20

the state can't keep making these

43:22

mistakes with its water. Water

43:24

in Arizona is life. Our

43:27

very survival as a state

43:30

depends on our doing better

43:32

when it comes to water. I

43:34

share with Mays the doomsday scenario for

43:37

La Paz that I'd heard from Sarah

43:39

Porter of the Governor's Water Council. The

43:41

farms are there. There's nothing

43:43

we can do about it. And

43:45

the people who live out there, yes, they're going

43:48

to lose their wells and their home value because

43:50

there's no value in their home once they lose

43:52

their wells. And that's what it is. I'm sorry.

43:54

No, that's not the case. In

43:57

many cases, these communities well. predate

44:01

these farms as

44:03

a state we have to act with

44:05

urgency because people are actively being harmed.

44:07

There are farmers, small

44:10

farmers, and cattle ranchers whose wells

44:12

have gone dry. There's a trailer

44:14

park that apparently has had its

44:16

well go dry and all

44:19

because of the deep

44:21

water farming that's going

44:24

on in this area and that's just

44:26

not okay. What can you

44:28

do about it as Attorney General? Well

44:30

I'm attacking it from pretty much every

44:32

angle that I can within the boundaries

44:34

of my authority. Mays

44:37

has tried to stop the Saudi-owned farm

44:39

from expanding but so far she's

44:42

only managed to revoke two well

44:44

permits because of improper paperwork. She's

44:47

also called on the state's water agency

44:49

to fulfill its mandate and assess how

44:51

much water is left in rural aquifers.

44:53

They still haven't done it. You

44:56

know Holly or when the county supervisor?

44:58

Yes, very well. Holly's been asking for

45:01

that hydrologic study for eight years since

45:03

the Saudi story came out. It is

45:06

outrageous. It is begging

45:09

for a hydrological study. I

45:12

mean this is one of

45:14

the greatest scandals in the

45:16

history of Arizona. Mays

45:19

says lawmakers need to pass legislation

45:21

to reform the state's water laws

45:23

and if they don't she's even

45:26

proposing going around them. We

45:28

have an obligation to protect

45:30

all Arizonans whether it's

45:32

a ballot initiative in the next year or

45:34

two or it's a lawsuit

45:36

by me we are going

45:38

to get this done. It

45:43

doesn't matter what you are you should be able

45:45

to work the issue and

45:47

leave the politics behind you and

45:49

get to some solutions. Holly

45:52

Irwin the Republican County Supervisor from

45:54

LaPaz has forged close

45:56

ties with Chris Mays and other

45:59

powerful Democrats. Maize calls her

46:01

the Aaron Brockovich of water in Arizona.

46:04

That growing bipartisanship gives Holly

46:06

some hope that her desert

46:08

community can survive. It's an

46:10

emotional roller coaster. Some days you want to give up.

46:13

Some days I cry, you know, and just

46:15

to turn around and to get

46:17

up and fight another day. I

46:20

hate being told no. I mean,

46:22

that's one of my biggest things, is

46:24

I hate being told there's no solution.

46:29

In her quest to save her

46:31

community, Holly Irwin challenged some powerful

46:33

players, lawmakers, lobbyists, and corporate executives

46:35

who've been fighting against regulating water

46:38

in rural areas, saying it would

46:40

be bad for business. It was

46:42

a classic David versus Goliath. And

46:44

in the past year, the David

46:46

in this story has scored some

46:48

wins. So I asked Nate to

46:50

come into the studio and catch

46:53

us up. Hey, Nate. Hey, y'all.

46:55

So tell me what's happened. Well, right

46:57

after we published that story, Arizona's governor,

46:59

Katie Hobbs, got asked about our investigation,

47:02

you know, the state pension fund's investment

47:04

in those mega farms. Were you aware

47:06

that the pension fund makes

47:08

that kind of investment? I was not.

47:11

Did that trouble you? Yes. So

47:14

these are the kinds of things that

47:16

maybe haven't been as closely examined before

47:18

my administration and certainly things that we

47:20

want to make sure we're aware of

47:23

and making smarter decisions for

47:25

Arizona. And then

47:27

a few months later, the governor takes this

47:29

really major step. The governor

47:31

announced today that Arizona is

47:33

terminating its lease with a

47:35

Middle Eastern-owned farm operating in

47:37

La Paz County about 90 minutes

47:40

west of Phoenix. That is

47:42

major. Which lease did she cancel? Are

47:45

those the farms in Holly's area? It's

47:47

a complex situation because the governor was

47:49

able to shut down some farmland run

47:51

by the Saudi company in Holly's County.

47:53

But you know, only on state land.

47:55

This was land that the farm leased

47:57

from the state. But much of that was in

47:59

the state. farmland near Holly is actually privately

48:01

owned and that is way harder to

48:04

throttle back. You know, that said, ending

48:06

those leases was still a big deal

48:08

because we're talking about five square miles

48:10

of farmland that got shut down. It

48:13

made international news and I guess it also

48:15

showed that the state of Arizona is willing

48:17

to take action against some powerful interests. So

48:20

is this going to be enough to save

48:22

Holly's community? I mean, the short

48:24

answer is no. The longer answer

48:26

is a bit of a jaw dropper actually, because,

48:28

you know, after we first broke this story

48:30

several years ago, the head of Arizona's

48:33

water department literally said our reporting was

48:35

making quote, hey, an overstating the problem.

48:37

He actually went so far as to

48:39

assure the public that Holly's area had

48:42

at least a 100 year water supply

48:44

despite the newly arrived mega farms. Well,

48:47

in December under pressure from lawmakers, his

48:49

agency revised those numbers. They now say

48:51

that nearly half the wells in the

48:54

area will be dry within only

48:56

25 years. Yeah.

48:58

And that's assuming the farms don't get bigger, which they're

49:00

still legally allowed to do. The

49:02

report says that if that happens, the area has way less

49:05

than 25 years. It'll be closer to 10

49:07

years until all those wells have no

49:09

water left. That's pretty serious. Is

49:12

there anything else the state can do

49:14

to try and save this water supply?

49:16

Well, Attorney General Chris Mays has launched

49:18

an investigation into the damages that are

49:20

being caused by big corporate farms. And

49:22

a few months ago, Mays met with

49:24

a group of residents in La Paz

49:26

County. And in response to a question,

49:28

she even hinted that she might file

49:30

a lawsuit against the mega farms. Here's

49:32

what she was asked. Are you

49:34

looking at possible reparations for people's

49:37

foundations, thinking, cracking, all these

49:39

things? That's the immediate threat we're going

49:41

to feel before we run out of

49:43

water. We don't do anything. I mean,

49:45

those are the kinds of things that

49:47

I would think about putting into a

49:50

lawsuit. And those are the

49:52

kinds of things for those of you who've

49:54

been contacted by my investigators. We've asked about

49:56

cracking in homes, fissures that you've

49:59

seen. dewatered wells,

50:02

physical impacts associated with deep

50:04

water wells, and financial harm

50:06

to you. So

50:11

these are sizable developments. What about

50:13

the state pension fund? So

50:15

far, the state hasn't taken any action on

50:18

the pension fund itself. And the

50:20

top fund managers declined interview requests. But they

50:22

have said the fund plans to cash out

50:24

its stake in the farm. You

50:27

know, on the other hand, that was always its

50:29

plan, to hold the investment for a while, make

50:31

some money, and then sell it. So it's

50:33

not clear if this announced sale was

50:35

from political pressure, or, you know,

50:38

just business as usual for the pension fund managers.

50:41

So you've got all this money

50:43

coming into Arizona chasing profits, essentially

50:45

for precious water supplies. And

50:48

it's local people that are paying the price.

50:51

And that seems to be the theme that's

50:53

captured in your new documentary, The Grab. Yeah,

50:55

that's right, Al. I mean, look, the

50:57

powerful have their eyes set on controlling

51:00

the most vital resources on the planet.

51:02

That's food and water. And we capture

51:04

that in the film. The

51:06

thing is, when everyday people

51:08

finally realize what's happening, conflict

51:10

can erupt, sometimes even violent

51:12

and deadly conflict. We

51:14

even show how some countries are beginning

51:16

to conduct war games based on food

51:18

and water conflicts. Of course,

51:21

the other side of that is that

51:23

the Hawley Irwins of the world are beginning to

51:25

win some of these battles. Nate,

51:27

thanks so much for this work. It's so important. Hey,

51:29

thanks so much, Al. That was Reveals,

51:32

Nate Halverson. To learn more about The Grab,

51:34

go to our website, revealnews.org. You can check

51:36

out the film in theaters around the U.S.

51:38

beginning June 14th, and that's just around the

51:41

corner. And you can also find it on

51:43

streaming platforms. Michael

51:51

Montgomery was the lead producer for

51:54

this week's show. He had help from Ike Shree's Khanda Raja. Cynthia

51:56

Rodriguez was also a part of the production. the

52:00

editor. Special thanks to Gabriella

52:02

Calperthwaite, Joe Bill Munoz, Mallory

52:04

Newman, Amanda Pike, David Richard,

52:07

Emma Schwartz, Yin-Woo Shih, Deborah

52:09

Sousa Silva, Jonathan Ingalls, Davis

52:12

Kuhn, and To Impact Partners.

52:14

Nicky Frick is our fact checker. Victoria

52:17

Baranetski is our general counsel. Our production

52:19

managers are the Wonder Twins, Zulema Cobb

52:21

and Steven, my brother from another mother,

52:23

Raskone. Score and sound

52:25

designed by the dynamic duo, Jay

52:27

Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs, and Fernando

52:30

Mamayo Arruda. Our post-production team this

52:32

week also includes Claire C. Note-Mullen,

52:34

our interim executive producers are Taki

52:36

Telenides and Brett Myers. Our theme

52:38

music is by Comorado Lightning. Support

52:41

for Reveal is provided by the

52:44

Reva and David Logan Foundation, the

52:46

Ford Foundation, the John D. and

52:48

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan

52:50

Logan Family Foundation, the Robert Wood

52:52

Johnson Foundation, the Park Foundation, and

52:54

the Hellman Foundation. Reveal

52:56

is a co-production of the Center

52:58

for Investigative Reporting and PRX. And

53:01

one last thing, next week's show kicks off

53:03

our three-part series, 40 Acres

53:05

and a Lie. It sheds new

53:07

light on a pivotal period in

53:10

history that came after the Civil

53:12

War. It's a moment in

53:14

time that I thought I understood, but

53:16

really didn't. I think you'll be

53:18

surprised too. I hope you'll listen. I'm

53:21

Al Letzen, and remember, there

53:23

is always more to the story. From

53:29

PRX.