A new nonprofit group says it will push for economic development and property rights in the Southwest, supporting projects such as the 28,000-home Villages of Vigneto in Benson.
In a news release, in interviews and on its website, the Southwestern Communities Coalition signaled its intention to battle what it calls 鈥渇ake environmentalists,鈥 who it says are using lawsuits to impede private landowners and drive them off their land.
While the news release doesn鈥檛 mention any groups by name, the group鈥檚 members鈥 comments and website clearly target the 蜜柚直播-based Center for Biological Diversity, one of six environmental groups that have sued to try to block the Vigneto project.
The Southwestern Communities Coalition announced its creation at a Benson meeting and news conference last week, saying it鈥檚 formed to protect 鈥渢he future of small-town America.鈥
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About 140 supporters attended the meeting, the group said.
In its news release, it said it would promote 鈥渢hriving communities, sustainable growth, a strong economy, sound stewardship of natural resources and protection of property rights, especially from radical groups bent on stopping all economic development.鈥
The group said it鈥檚 backed by 16 蜜柚直播 and New Mexico counties, including 蜜柚直播 County but not Pima County, and that it has hundreds of individual members.
They include 鈥渞anchers, farmers, residents, wine makers, environmental organizations and others who are backing sustainable economic development,鈥 the group鈥檚 news release said.
鈥淲hile the Villages at Vigneto is just the most recent example of environmental groups鈥 鈥榢ill all development at any cost鈥 mentality, there are unfortunately many more examples,鈥 said Brian Seasholes, the new coalition鈥檚 executive director, in the news release.
鈥淭his coalition isn鈥檛 about promoting one development. This coalition was formed as a commitment to promote continuous economic opportunities and to counter the false choice between a strong economy and healthy environment, which will enhance the lives of people in our communities and provide a future for our children.鈥
Seasholes and others involved with the group didn鈥檛 respond last week to questions from the Star about its budget or the source of its funding.
Seasholes鈥 LinkedIn page shows that he has worked in 蜜柚直播 for the coalition since July. Previously, he worked as an independent consultant in the Washington, D.C., area for about two years.
He has worked more than four years in various positions for the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit group with a strong property rights bent. He鈥檚 worked for two other property rights and business-based groups: the Property and Environment Research Center and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The Vigneto project, the only one mentioned by the group so far, would build its homes in a 12,000-acre area south of Interstate 10 and east of 蜜柚直播 90. Its backers have said it would draw retirees and others from around the country to live in lush, semi-rural surroundings.
Opponents have charged 鈥 falsely, supporters have said 鈥 that the project鈥檚 groundwater pumping will dry up the neighboring San Pedro River. The project鈥檚 future is now tied up in federal court because of litigation filed by the environmental groups.
Other rural counties have encountered similar problems from environmentalist litigation, 鈥渕any times not based on sound fact or sound law,鈥 said Mike Reinbold, a partner in El Dorado Holdings LLC, Vigneto鈥檚 developer, and one of the new coalition鈥檚 six board members.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a serious problem that will get addressed by the coalition and will lead to people demanding greater transparency with things proposed for critical habitat for endangered species and more protection for property rights,鈥 he said.
In singling out the Center for Biological Diversity for criticism, Reinbold and Lanny Davis, an attorney for El Dorado, cited a 2005 Pima County Superior Court jury finding that the group had libeled Arivaca rancher Jim Chilton with malice. The jury found the group had misrepresented the health of his 21,500-acre Forest Service grazing allotment in southwestern Pima County.
Specifically, nine of 10 jurors found that the center's 2002 news advisory on that allotment had contained false statements and misleading photographs regarding that allotment, the 蜜柚直播 Court of Appeals ruled in upholding the jury verdict in 2006.
The jury, whose finding was upheld by higher courts, ordered the center to pay Chilton a $600,000 judgment.
Reinbold said the coalition would try to help other ranchers and landowners fight back against claims by the center that they鈥檙e abusing the land. Davis said the group will fight 鈥渘on-factual speculations based on fear鈥 that projects such as Vigneto will despoil the landscape and damage imperiled species.
Just based on the Chilton jury鈥檚 verdict, 鈥渘o one should take what the CBD (Center for Biological Diversity) says seriously without a high burden of proof 鈥 meaning proven facts,鈥 Davis said.
He said the center鈥檚 and other groups鈥 arguments that Vigneto will dry up the San Pedro misrepresent the truth, and that there鈥檚 no study or other facts to support that conclusion.
Robin Silver, the center鈥檚 board chairman, said last week in an interview that the group had made mistakes in the Chilton case, has learned from them and that it paid a penalty for them.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 change the fact that we鈥檝e led the fight to save what desert rivers are left in 蜜柚直播 including the San Pedro. We鈥檙e doing everything we can so that the San Pedro doesn鈥檛 end up like the Santa Cruz,鈥 said Silver, referring to the Santa Cruz River through 蜜柚直播.
He noted that his group commissioned a 2016 study by hydrologist Robert Prucha that found in three of five tested scenarios, Vigneto鈥檚 groundwater pumping would lower the water table beneath the San Pedro鈥檚 St. David Cienega by 0.8 to 1.5 feet within 100 years. That means the pumping will most likely infringe on the cienega鈥檚 federal water rights, Silver has said.
Vigneto鈥檚 Reinbold, noting that some scenarios showed impacts while others didn鈥檛, called the study 鈥減retty neutral,鈥 and said a decline of a foot and a half is not the same as the cienega drying up.
A second study, done in 2017 by 蜜柚直播 hydrologist Chris Eastoe, also concluded that a large increase in groundwater pumping in the St. David area 鈥 about four miles east of Vigneto 鈥 would eventually dry up the cienega.
Kieran Suckling, the center鈥檚 director, said the coalition鈥檚 formation is a clear sign that Vigneto is having problems, both legal and political, due to widespread opposition to it among environmentalists.
He also referred to a whistleblower revelation earlier this year that political pressure sped the way for Vigneto鈥檚 approval.
Steve Spangle told the Star that when he was a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, he was pressured by Interior Department higher-ups to soften his legal stance on the project.
While Interior officials haven鈥檛 directly addressed Spangle鈥檚 allegations, Vigneto attorney Davis has said the weight of the evidence shows that the feds changed their stance strictly due to 鈥渢he facts and the law,鈥 not political pressure.
Vigneto鈥檚 鈥渋ll-conceived development is collapsing under the weight of federal whistleblowers, federal judges and investigative journalism,鈥 Suckling said.
At the Benson session announcing the coalition鈥檚 formation, Seasholes in turn blasted 鈥渇ake groups鈥 that 鈥渙wn no land; rent no land, lease no land.鈥
鈥淎ll these fake groups do is file lawsuits that do enormous harm to the environment by harming working landowners,鈥 he said. 鈥淗ave you seen a lawsuit do any real conservation ... construct water conservation infrastructure ... control invasive species ... create a sensitive, rotational grazing plan?鈥
鈥淎ll of these issues take a lot of hard work to achieve, not filing lawsuits. They take people of good will, working cooperatively, compromising and finding creative solutions,鈥 he said.
