Salt River Project, a major Arizona utility that delivers power and water to more than 2 million metro Phoenix customers, will remain subject to the state's public records law, after the Arizona Supreme Court denied a petition for review.
The law requires public entities to disclose some documents to the public when requested. The high court's denial on Aug. 19 marks the end of the road for the utility's attempts to shield its records and caps a yearslong legal battle over transparency with the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club.
The group's Grand Canyon Chapter director, Sandy Bahr, said in a statement that the decision "ensures that communities will have access to and be able to inspect records that will affect their utility bills, and our air, water, and health. This allows all Arizonans to better hold SRP accountable for its actions.”
Sierra Club requested records from SRP in 2021 about its plans to expand a gas-burning power plant near Randolph, a historically Black community adjacent to the Coolidge Generating Station. The plans were opposed by Randolph residents.
SRP refused, saying the public records law didn't apply to it and that even if it did, another law allowed the utility to shield the documents if releasing them would give other entities a competitive advantage.
Sierra Club sued in 2022. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ultimately ruled in favor of SRP because of the competition law but noted that the utility was, in fact, a public entity and subject to the records law.
Sierra Club appealed the next year, and the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in its favor. The competition law allows for confidentiality, the court said, but it doesn't "provide a blanket presumption of confidentiality for the records of public power entities."
This decision does not affect Arizona Public Service or Tucson Electric Power, which are regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Taylor Seely is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Do you have a story about the government infringing on your First Amendment rights? Reach her at [email protected] or by phone at 480-476-6116.
Seely's role is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona utility SRP must provide public records
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