by Terri Jo Neff | Dec 24, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The largest wind energy project in the Western Hemisphere is one step closer to generating electricity for 3 million Americans after Pattern Energy received the final approval it needs from Arizona officials for a transmission line that will carry electricity from the New Mexico wind project to Arizona.
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) recently gave its unanimous approval to the Certificate of Environmental Compatibility application for Pattern Energy’s 550-mile SunZia Transmission project. The transmission line will be the conduit for Pattern Energy’s own 3,500MW SunZia Wind facility being constructed across three central New Mexico counties.
The ACC certificate represents the completion of the Arizona permitting process for the ±525 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line that will enter Arizona from the east, running along the southern end of Graham and Greenlee counties before veering southwest through northern Cochise County.
The line will then head northwest through the far northeast corner of Pima County before heading on to Pinal County where the project ends. There are plans for a third party transmission line to then carry the electricity to the Palo Verde Hub.
Pattern Energy continues to work with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as well as local jurisdictions and stakeholders to finalize the remaining approvals needed to allow construction on the projects to begin on schedule in mid-2023. A Record of Decision from BLM is anticipated in April 2023, the key approval required prior to construction.
Those approvals will bring badly needed temporary and permanent jobs to Arizona, particularly in Cochise County and Pinal County. There will also be associated revenues such as for materials, equipment, fuel, and temporary housing.
“This project is of great economic benefit with more than 2,000 construction jobs and up to 150 permanent jobs, which for our rural communities is a lifeline,” said Mignonne Hollis, Executive Director of the Cochise County-based Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation. “It’s vital for our county, which continues to see a decline in population, to have stable jobs come into our region.”
The SunZia wind and transmission project was first proposed in 2006 and received its first granted accepted rating from the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in 2011. Its first of many federal approvals came in 2015.
Since then, dozens of environmental and sustainability reviews have been conducted for the joint project, which will have a footprint in 13 counties between the two states.
Company officials say the combined SunZia Wind project and Transmission project comprise the largest renewable energy infrastructure project in U.S. history with a total privately-funded investment of more than $8 billion.
“The unanimous decision by the ACC to grant a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility for the SunZia Transmission line represents a major milestone towards the completion of this project,” said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy which owns the SunZia project. “Once complete these projects will combine to increase the reliability of the western grid, create good jobs, and bring millions of dollars in economic benefits to Arizona and New Mexico.”
The operational portfolio of California-based Pattern Energy includes 35 renewable energy facilities that use proven, best-in-class technology with an operating capacity of nearly 6,000 MW in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Mexico.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
by Corinne Murdock | Dec 22, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona’s congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle didn’t appear too fond of the Democrat-led Congress’ $1.7 trillion, 4,000-page spending bill.
Republicans decried the plan entirely, first noting the Democrats’ last-minute submission of the legislation for review and demand for a vote. They admonished what they considered excessive spending, especially given the nation’s current financial insecurity. Democrats that commented on the spending bill, which were few, were more vocal about the aspects they disliked than the virtues of the package. However, Democrats ultimately voted for the bill.
READ HERE: THE $1.7 TRILLION SPENDING BILL
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) declared that the omnibus was an “assault” on the people, separation of powers, and fiscal responsibility. He warned it would devalue the American dollar to “unprecedented levels.”
Biggs and representative-elect Eli Crane signed onto a letter led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21) urging the Senate GOP to unify their 41 votes to kill the bill.
Biggs said that Republican resistance on the spending bill would allow the incoming Republican-led House to hold the FBI accountable for suppressing free speech online.
Biggs also shared commentary from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) disputing Democrats’ claim that Republicans were holding up the spending bill. Paul reminded the public and press that the Democrat-led Congress, just as with every other Congress, knows the deadline.
Watch here for Biggs’ full remarks on the omnibus:
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) said the bill was “America Last” in nature. He criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for prioritizing Ukraine over America.
Gosar listed a litany of real issues facing the country: inflation, declining wages, World War II-era shortages and supply chain issues, record crime levels, a weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI censorship and political persecution, Big Tech monopoly colluding with the DOJ, Biden family corruption with illegal Ukrainian bribes, record levels of broken families, a transgenderism crisis, failing infrastructure, record low confidence in government, broken elections systems, inept public health systems, COVID-19 vaccine harms, declining military, over $31 trillion in debt.
“Yet the Omnibus bill failed to remedy a single one of these very real problems. Not one. In fact, it rewards the DOJ, the FBI and the failed military leadership with more money and no reforms and no investigations. Not a dime is allocated towards securing our own border,” said Gosar.
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) said the plan was “reckless.” Lesko noted that the country’s interest payments would surpass the entire Department of Defense (DOD) budget on a yearly basis ($742 billion).
Lesko also noted that 63 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
“We cannot continue spending money that we don’t have,” said Lesko.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) backed the bill, declaring that further funding for Ukraine was a good thing. However, Sinema did break with her former party (she now identifies as an independent) to speak out on border policy within the bill. Sinema reaffirmed dedication on a bipartisan solution with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) for border legislation.
As AZ Free News reported last week, Sinema has been attempting to broker a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers in exchange for increased border security measures.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) hasn’t commented on the omnibus as of press time.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07) hasn’t commented either, though he did signal support for Ukraine once again.
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09) criticized the decision to leave out the Afghan Adjustment Act, legislation to expedite the legal status process for Afghan evacuees. Stanton signaled his support for Ukraine as well.
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02) had the most favorable view of the spending bill. She championed the legislation as a great increase in funding for Arizona.
READ MORE: Controversial Expenditures in Congress’ $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Dec 14, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
This week, 15 illegal immigrant farm workers are petitioning Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship in year-end legislation. An undisclosed number came from Arizona. The remainder came from California, Idaho, Michigan, and Georgia.
United Farm Workers (UFW), a labor union, sent this 15-member delegation to represent the interests of about 2.4 million illegal immigrant farm workers across the country.
The labor union was welcomed by the Biden administration. UFW Foundation CEO Diana Tellefson Torres and President Teresa Romero attended the White House reception.
In a press release, Romero said that the nation’s food security relied on mass conferment of legal status to the 2.4 million UFW workers. Romero insisted that doing so would save the nation over $430 million in wages for this upcoming year.
“It’s time to stop playing politics and pass the deal we have negotiated into law,” stated Romero. Our nation’s food security and the lives of hundreds of thousands of farm workers are on the line.”
In the same press release, Torres said that Congress could thank illegal immigrant workers for their family holiday meals.
“This begs the question, will Congressmembers continue to leave the very people who nurture their families and this nation in limbo this legislative session or will they do the right thing and pass a pathway to legal status for farm workers?”
According to USDA data updated in March, around half of farm workers are illegal.
From the very start of his administration, President Joe Biden has expressed a desire to provide a pathway to citizenship. Biden’s vision would be far greater than what UFW proposed. The president has stated his intent to provide a pathway to citizenship for the nearly 11 million illegal immigrants in the country currently.
Biden’s initial plan submitted to Congress last January, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, proposed an eight-year pathway: illegal immigrants receive a five-year temporary status, have a green card for three years, and then apply for citizenship. The Biden administration apparently gave The Washington Post a two-day advance exclusive on details of the bill.
In October, Biden reiterated his desire for the 11 million-strong pathway to citizenship. The president also revoked former President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions on Muslim and African-majority countries; restarted former President Barack Obama’s Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) Program; and issued Temporary Protected Status to Cameroonian, Ethiopian, Haitian, Somalian, South Sudanese, and Sudanese nationals.
Democrats have struggled to get the necessary votes to pass any of their desired pathways to citizenship: even for “Dreamers,” the recipients of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Last week, the House’s New Democrat Coalition (NDC) called on its fellow members to pass Dreamer protections before session ends this month. Leading the NDC call to action were Reps. Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09) and Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24): the NDC’s immigration task force co-chairs.
“Protecting Dreamers has long been a top priority for the New Democrat Coalition. As their fate hangs in the balance, we are committed to working with our colleagues in the House and Senate to pass bipartisan legislation before the end of the year that gives Dreamers the stability and security they’ve been waiting for and that they deserve,” stated Stanton and Carbajal. “The stakes are too high for inaction.”
Several days before Stanton’s call to action, Roll Call reported that a bipartisan pathway to citizenship for Dreamers was taking shape in the Senate. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) proposed measures that would exchange citizenship for stronger border security.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Dec 12, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Illegal immigration may hit another all-time monthly high for the Biden administration. That’s in addition to the current historic record of over 4.1 million encounters, excluding “gotaways.”
Over the last few weeks, Border Patrol (BP) has observed a sharp increase in illegal border crossings in the Tucson Sector. Chief John Modlin highlighted the encounters of “large groups” throughout the week. In all, Modlin documented seven large groups totaling over 1,000 illegal immigrants.
The first week of December, Modlin reported that these large groups accounted for hundreds of migrants at a time.
The week after Thanksgiving, the Tucson Sector reported over 5,700 apprehensions.
The heightened migration surge doesn’t just include those seeking refuge from cartels and oppressive governments. On an almost weekly basis, BP officials document the arrests of illegal immigrants with prior criminal convictions.
For fiscal year 2022 (FY2022: Oct. 2021 – Sept. 30 2022), the number of illegal immigrants apprehended with one or more prior criminal convictions swelled to over 12,000.
The last time that the country experienced similar numbers was during the final months of the Obama administration and the first few months of Trump’s administration (over 12,800 in FY16). Throughout Trump’s administration, these numbers dropped steadily by several thousand every year: FY2017, over 8,500; FY18, about 6,700; FY19, over 4,200; FY20, over 2,400.
For FY2021, there were over 10,700 criminal illegal immigrants apprehended. At this trend, there could be around 14,000 criminal illegal immigrants arrested for FY23.
Percentagewise, the most notable increases in criminal conviction types concerned those convicted of homicide or manslaughter.
Despite the continuing surge of illegal immigration, President Joe Biden commented ahead of his first-ever visit to Arizona during his term that the border wasn’t important.
Based on the current average monthly encounters, there will be over 8.8 million illegal immigrants coming into the country by the end of Biden’s term. That’s more encounters than former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George Bush’s last two years combined.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Dec 10, 2022 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Within hours of U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement on Friday that she is now a registered independent voter, posturing began for the 2024 election as the public learned just how deep the divide is within the Arizona Democratic Party.
Sinema took part in multiple media appearances to explain her decision, stressing her bipartisan efforts and focus on being an “independent voice” as Arizona’s senior senator despite being the Democratic nominee in 2018 against then-Sen. Martha McSally.
“Removing myself from the partisan structure — not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship,” Sinema said.
In another statement Friday, Sinema noted her independent minded approach “is rare in Washington and has upset partisans in both parties,” but she believes it is “an approach that has delivered lasting results for Arizona.”
Sinema’s sentiment that she has well-served her constituents is not universally shared by Democrats back home, where her lack of enthusiastic support for many Democratic candidates in the 2022 election cycle, including Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ run for governor, caused frustration for the Arizona Democratic Party.
Friday’s defection announcement was met by a good riddance style statement from state party leaders, who said everything except don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
“Senator Sinema may now be registered as an Independent, but she has shown she answers to corporations and billionaires, not Arizonans,” the statement read. “Senator Sinema’s party registration means nothing if she continues to not listen to her constituents.”
Some of Sinema’s votes in past years vexed key party leaders, but the discontent remained mostly under the surface until January. That is when the Arizona Democratic Party’s executive board censured Sinema for opposing changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules so that Democrats could push through voting rights legislation in advance of the 2022 election cycle.
Over the last two election cycles, the number of Arizona voters now registered as independents or no-party designated is almost equal to the number of registered Republicans, while independents outnumber registered Democrats by about 110,000 voters.
If Sinema seeks reelection in 2024, a run as an independent allows her to avoid a rough primary such as one U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego has been suggesting for months that he plans to put forth. Gallego issued a statement Friday that promoted his donation webpage while criticizing Sinema.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton decried suggestions that Sinema’s decision was somehow connected to a “post-partisan epiphany.” Instead, the former Phoenix mayor said it was “about political preservation” in light of Sinema’s recent polling numbers.
However, Sinema’s move was applauded by many Conservatives, including Larry Elder, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Sinema’s voter registration switch ensures far-left Democrats will lose any foothold they expected to have after the recent Georgia runoff gave Democrats a slim 51 to 49 majority in the Senate. However, she is expected to retain all of her committee assignments from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top-ranking Democrats.
Unlike fellow independents Sen. Angus King (Maine) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) who formally caucus with Democrats, Sinema says she does not plan to caucus with any party.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
