Environmental groups are sounding the alarm on various issues going into this year’s legislative session, and holding out hope for one area of potential bipartisanship.
Every year, a coalition of state organizations sign on to a list of environmental priorities they hope the state Legislature will address.
Tribes are still figuring out how to start and finish renewable energy projects amid the Trump administration freezing or eliminating federal dollars from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, which directed more than $720 million to Indian Country.
The nonprofit Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy estimates at least 100 tribes across the U.S. are facing cuts and bottlenecks following the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is doing away with clean energy tax credits to incentivize such investments.
Kris Mayes believes in the lost art of the town hall.
That conviction recently brought the Arizona attorney general before a group of a few dozen residents of Sun City, Arizona, a far-flung suburb for retirees in the Phoenix area’s West Valley, to hear from residents how a proposed rate hike from the state’s largest utility, Arizona Power Service (APS)—its third in four years—would affect them.
Water officials in Pinal County experimented with cloud seeding technology to boost rainfall over the summer, just months after bills that would have banned the practice failed to gain traction at the state Legislature.
Cloud seeding is the process of releasing tiny particles, like silver iodide or salts, into existing clouds to increase precipitation. The practice, first discovered in the 1940s, is widely considered safe, though its effectiveness is still the subject of research.
Governor Katie Hobbs announced Thursday that her office has awarded $15.6 million to four grid-resilience projects across Arizona that will directly benefit customers in the Tucson region. The four awards will be matched by recipient cost shares to generate about $27 million in total investment aimed at reducing outages, lowering costs and limiting wildfire risk.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and a coalition of 16 other states filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration for its suspension of two bipartisan grant programs for electric vehicle charging.
According to Mayes, the administration suspending the grants puts $15 million that the city of Phoenix planned to use to strategically increase public access to EV charging infrastructure in jeopardy.
When Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility company, announced plans a couple of months ago for a massive new natural gas plant capable of adding up to 2,000 megawatts, two of Arizona’s top utility regulators didn’t wait for evidence, public filings or even a docket number. They celebrated.
Arizona invests $15.6M in four grid resilience projects to cut outages, reduce wildfire risk, and modernize equipment for 1.6 million utility customers. The funding, paired with utility cost matches, brings the total investment to $27 million and marks one of the state’s most significant grid-hardening efforts in recent years.
Tribal nations looking to build clean energy projects are exploring new funding pathways after the Trump administration’s cuts to clean energy grants like Solar for All, which earmarked more than $500 million for solar development on tribal lands.
A new 643-acre solar field is expected to be under construction south of Casa Grande in 2027, following approval by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.