Report Ranks States' Climate Readiness, Arizona Not Happy

A new report says Arizona is not prepared for the drought risks posed by climate change. One expert blames budget challenges, arguing that funding cutbacks have hindered the state’s climate change resilience planning.

The state scored a “C-” in the States At Risk report by the news organization Climate Central. The report card “explores the preparedness actions that each of the 50 states are taking in relation to their current and future changes in climate threats,” according to the creators.

The report said: “By 2050, Arizona's summer drought threat is projected to be above average compared to other states, but its drought preparedness plans don't yet account for the effects of climate change.”

Several states scored worse. Texas, Nevada, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi each received an “F.” California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts each scored an “A.” States were scored on their preparations for extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland flooding, and coastal flooding linked to climate change, depending on applicability.

Arizona officials pushed back against the report, arguing that the authors’ criteria did not consider the actions they have taken, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

“In my years at [the Arizona Department of Water Resources] and in my prior job at the city of Phoenix, I’ve seen groups like this, who, when you don’t have a specific plan labeled ‘climate-change adaptation,’ they sometimes tend to discount the elements you have in place that essentially would be adaptation actions for climate-change impacts,” said Tom Buschatzke, the state water agency’s director, per the Star.

“No, we don’t have a report that’s titled ‘Climate-Change Risks’ or ‘Climate-Change Adaptation Report,’ but we do factor in climate variability as we’re planning for drought,” said Michelle Moreno, a water department spokeswoman.

Kathy Jacobs, a former top state water official who runs a University of Arizona climate research center, also weighed in. She was critical of Arizona’s “lack of programs and regulations governing water use in [the state], ‘all of which will be affected by these droughts,’” the report said.

However, she “agreed the state has a ‘very advanced’ water-management system governing five active management areas in populated areas of Central and Southern Arizona. Arizona is better-prepared than most states to deal with short- and medium-term droughts,” the report said.

Part of the problem is funding. The state has faced deep budget cuts in recent years.

“The water department’s budget and staff are down from $22.8 million and 236 employees in fiscal year 2007-08 to $15.2 million and 111 employees for fiscal 2015-16,” the Star reported.

“You can’t do resilience planning for climate change in the context of no water-management staff,” Jacobs said, per the report. “The entire water-management division was essentially eliminated. There are four people left out of what was 60.”

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