(The Center Square) – Attorney General Kris Mayes is asking the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs to step in to take care of issues involving the San Carlos Irrigation Project.
According to the attorney general, the project is facing serious electric issues with outages, including a major power outage on Aug. 13.
“The Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs must take immediate action to address these service interruptions,” Mayes said in a statement. “Reliable electricity is critical, not just for comfort but for the health and safety of SCIP’s customers during extreme summer heat. I am particularly concerned that SCIP’s reliability issues are exposing its customers to avoidable, potentially deadly risk during the hottest months of the year.”
In a letter to federal officials, Mayes specifically asked for them to immediately “fund and publicize cooling centers and ice giveaways,” pay back the customers who have been impacted by the outages with “bill credits” and begin using money “already earmarked” for making electricity access more reliable for SCIP’s 13,000 customers.
In addition, she is asking the federal government to make customers aware of “federal incentive programs”, “reprogram” funding for the “Casa Grande and Feldman substation upgrade project” and look into other projects that may need to get started in order to improve the situation.
“As a former Corporation Commissioner, I understand well the challenges of providing reliable electric service during the Arizona summer. I also understand that SCIP faces unique challenges as a federally owned utility and that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is looking to transfer SCIP’s assets and customers to other electric utilities,” the attorney general wrote.
“Until that transfer happens, however, the Department is responsible for SCIP’s performance,” Mayes added.
ABC 15 Arizona reported that the outages are primarily impacting people in central Arizona, including on the Gila River and San Carlos Indian Reservations as residents across the state deal with extremely high temperatures throughout the summer.
The Center Square reached out to the Department of Interior for comment, but it did not respond in time for publication. According to a news release, the Attorney General’s office expects a reply within a two week to their demands.