| Closed meeting called
to discuss regional water issues; affected residents to be informed later
By J.C. Huntington Dateline: Phoenix Arizona, Tuesday, March 13, 2001 Updated: March 22, 2001 A closed meeting described by the organizers as "the opening of a discussion on water between professionals and the affected residents of the region" was held March 13 at Biosphere II. Affected residents and the local press were not allowed to attend. According to the meeting organizers, the information gathered at the meeting will be disseminated to affected residents and the press sometime in the future Oracle residents Ann Woodin and Linda Leigh organized the meeting. Leigh is affiliated with The Drylands Institute (www.drylands.org) and with the Center for Sustainable Prosperity (www.sustainableProsperity.org). Woodin chose to list her affiliation as Oracle Town Hall Planning Committee, even though Planning Committee members and a number of other residents had requested that she not do so as there had never been a vote by any Town Hall committee to sponsor the meeting. A participant reported Pinal County deputies provided security services and stood guard outside the meeting room door. A professional videographer was hired to tape the proceedings and lunch was served. Interested residents submitted questions for the participants and most were accepted by the organizers. One question was not accepted and the submitter was told that the question would be best asked at a subsequent meeting of "planners and hydrologists." The question follows: Acknowledging the fact that Tucson is exhausting its own and imported ground water supplies, and is now in the process of converting to the use of Central Arizona Project water, do you believe that this rural area can be developed on Tucson's model of golf courses and high density housing projects without depleting the ground water?A participant allowed in the meeting reported that Errol Montgomery told the assembly that depletion of the local aquifer might not be so bad if it brings economic prosperity, because the community could then afford to bring CAP water to replenish the aquifer. Montgomery is a hydrologist hired by the developers of the Willow Springs Ranch. As of press time, the organizers of the meeting have chosen to not disclose their source(s) of funding for the meeting. Several invitees refused to attend the May 13 meeting and others, who asked to attend, were refused. Invited participants choosing to attend were:
Invitees that did not attend were:
Those that asked to attend, but were refused:
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