Saudi company draws unlimited Arizona ground water to grow alfalfa amid drought

The article clearly has xenophobic undertones, which is somewhat surprising for CBS.

But then again, American society's reaction to xenophobia strongly depends on which country/group the xenophobia is directed against, and CBS is well aware of that. So they can avoid being tossed into the same bin as Fox News, despite pushing essentially the same messages.

It would be a scandal either way, but tragically CBS decided to make it a racially charged scandal because that clearly drives engagement. It's pretty disgusting.

"We cannot afford to give our water away frankly to anyone, let alone the Saudis, for free,"

If you can't afford to give your water away, then why does it matter who it's being given to?

I'm no fan of Saudi Arabia but the fault here is whoever decided to lease the land for $25 an acre and let them draw as much water as they want from it.

It's always blown my mind that a government official that is only in power for a few years is allowed to sign leases for decades or even hundreds of years.

The problem here isn't that a Saudi-run farm is exercising their right to run their farm how they please, the problem is that essential groundwater reserves should not have been leased to anybody, especially not long term leases for short term personal gains.

It's scandalous because Arizona is being pumped dry for the benefit of a desert on the other side of the planet, and the Saudis aren't paying enough to offset the damage.

Their model is so unsustainable it's illegal in their home country, so they started it up here. This is not the case for roses, kale, Wyoming, etc.