PHX>EV: The New Zion: Intersection of Power Politics & Infrastructure Investment

This is a differential tangent and take-off point from an article by Rogue Columnist Jon Talton that was published on 15 March 2018.
It overlaps with a number of posts on this blog about the eastward Mesa suburban (and Boomburg) expansion into Phoenix's East Valley that's been 're-branded' by the East Valley Partnership as PHX>EV for farther real estate land holdings 'to the edge' creating clusters of Boomburgs and networks of new Edge-Cities including five or six new data centers and tech industrial/commercial corridors.
All that require both large amounts of electricity and water while creating few jobs except for 20th Century manufacturing facilities now getting automated. It explains why there's no Central Business District anymore, with the City of Mesa's $350,000,000 Bond Obligation Debts for two new Water Treatment Plants: Signal Butte WTP and the Greenfield WTP, as well as new connections made at the Val Vista WTP.  
Jon Talton provides a short version of the Salt River Project, adding issues about renewable energy, Elon Musk's Solar City, and upcoming November elections.

The Kingdom and The Power

The Salt River Project was recently in the news, with proposed pay increases including $251,000 a year for board President David Rousseau. The story noted that this was more than Gov. Doug Ducey ($95,000) or Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton ($88,000). SRP backed off following the news in the Arizona Republic. The real day-to-day boss is the new general manager, Mike Hummel, who will make $1.04 million. Despite the modest title, this is a position of immense influence. Former general managers include heavyweights Jack Pfister and Dick Silverman.
Phoenix lacks engaged moneyed stewards such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Seattle, or major headquarters such as Amazon. This only magnifies the power of SRP. It is no ordinary utility, even though it supplies electricity to the Phoenix metropolitan area along with Arizona Public Service. But much of what it does happens behind the scenes. SRP likes it that way. . .
The Salt River Project is a unique entity. . . SRP is not a federal agency.
Rather, it is a hybrid private-state organization consisting of two arms.
First is the Salt River Valley Water Users Association, which began in 1903. The first Newlands Act reclamation project, the association consisted of farmers and ranchers who pledged their land as collateral for low-interest bonds to pay for Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
The second arm was created in 1936 when the Legislature took advantage of a New Deal program allowing no-interest bonds to be sold for agricultural improvement through state government districts. Named the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, it was shortened to Salt River Project.
Although it was pitched for decades as a way to sustain agriculture and stop groundwater pumping, California presciently argued that Arizona would use it for urban development. California was right, although it lost the landmark suit.. .
The kingdom and the power come with controversy . . .
Read more > http://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2018/03/srp-the-kingdom-and-the-power.html