Open Meeting - September 10, 2026 - Sep 10, 2026

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Arizona Corporation Commission 2h 33m 7 agenda items transcribed 3 days ago official recording ↗

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What opening invocation and pledge are read at the start of the meeting?

Thomas Myers 0:00

All right. Welcome everybody. We'll go ahead and get our September tenth uh regular open meeting started. Uh if you'll please rise for an invocation and the pledge. Heavenly Father, we come before you uh grateful this day um and for the opportunity to continue to serve the people of Arizona. We again ask for your wisdom as we deliberate, your your guidance as we make decisions and your grace to act with integrity and fairness in all that we do. And we ask all this in your son's name. Amen. Please join me in our pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag

Unknown 0:43

of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God and indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thomas Myers 0:58

Okay. Um now for our first item of business we have uh two items subject to forty ARS forty-two fifty two on the consent agenda and that's items thirteen and seventeen. And um uh only parties are allowed to respond or allowed to to have comment on this um if we if uh but if there are parties that want to speak to either one of these we can allow public comment. No parties for thirteen or seventeen.

Mary Griffin Campbell 1:31

Yes, I'm for seventeen, Mary Campbell. Um APS.

Thomas Myers 1:36

You're with APS?

Mary Griffin Campbell 1:38

No, I'm not with APS. I asked I listed to be a speaker.

Thomas Myers 1:43

Um yeah, typically for consent items as long you know, only parties are allowed to speak unless, you know, we open it up. Do you guys have a problem opening it up for p public comment on that item? No, everybody's good. Okay. Go then in that case, go ahead.

Mary Griffin Campbell 2:00

Okay, thank you, Commissioners, for allowing me to speak today. Electronically as I had received notice of this meeting just two days ago. My name is Mary Griffin Campbell and I'm a third party third generation farmer from Yuma County. I'm speaking today to ask you to vote no on the construction extension of the transmission line project. That APS has requested to twenty forty two. Approximately ten years ago when phase one and two were approved, there was only an emphasis on phase one with the meetings. Phase two did not come to the forefront, and APS did not engage with the farmers whose land would be affected. My grandparents homesteaded in the Yuma Valley in nineteen seventeen and had one child, my father Marianne Griffin, who took over the farm when his parents died when he was a teenager.

Mary Griffin Campbell 2:53

And he continued to grow the farm and secure farmland for his family. Dad went on to have six children and who have cared for the farm since his passing. We now have the fourth and fifth generation also involved in keeping the family farm going. Yuma is a huge part of the desert region growing area, responsible for ninety five percent of our country's what winter vegetables, providing food security for our country, and our agriculture adds four billion to Arizona's economy every year. Our family was totally unaware of the plan to place two hundred and thirty KV transmission lines through one of our most valuable midwinter growing parcels until after the approval. Happened. This is land where we grow a variety of lettuces, celery, broccoli, and other important vegetables that has a microclimate and soil to specifically produce a quality product.

Mary Griffin Campbell 3:47

during our coldest winter temperatures. Taking a large swath of ground through this field to install and maintain large power poles or towers We'll reduce our acreage and make farming the par parcel very inefficient. Efficiency is the name of the game with farming. We do our very best to grow crops in such a way that it reduces the price for the consumer. Profit margins are slim if there is one. And when it w any time it comes to farming. There are only so many acres of farm ground available, and removing any from the growing area is extremely hurtful to our farm and others who have parcels in the North Yuma Valley. I ask for you to reject this request from APS and allow the public to provide further input.

Mary Griffin Campbell 4:37

This transmission line will run through a large part of the Yuma Farming Valley. It's a huge project that will affect not only our farm. But the farm owner south of our parcel We are a group of farmers who want to voice our opinion, engage with APS, and come to a solution that works best for all involved.