Sierra Club, others criticize Gov. Katie Hobbs for supporting Desert Southwest Gas Pipeline

After Gov. Katie Hobbs voiced her support for the Desert Southwest Gas Pipeline over the weekend, the Sierra Club and other Arizona organizations are criticizing her for the endorsement.

The project is a methane gas pipeline spanning more than 500 miles through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas that will cost more than $5.3 billion.

In her endorsement, Hobbs said the project would deliver be a key driver of reliable and affordable energy for the state.

“The Desert Southwest Pipeline will provide a critical energy backbone that enables our existing businesses to grow and thrive, while ensuring Arizona remains an attractive destination for high-tech manufacturing, the booming clean energy economy and the technology and innovation sector,” Hobbs said in a May 8 news release.

‘Utility corporations win again’

Environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club, Chispa Arizona and Solar United Neighbors oppose the pipeline championed by Hobbs.

Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter director Sandy Bahr called the support unwise and short-sighted.

“This pipeline will ensure that Arizona exports more of our energy dollars from Arizona to Texas, but much worse will lock in gas use for decades,” Bahr said. “The governor should have at a minimum waited until she knew more about the impacts of this proposed gas pipeline instead of once again just giving the Arizona utilities … what they want.”

“We are truly disappointed with this decision. Utility corporations win again,” Vania Guevara, the advocacy and political director of Chispa Arizona, said in the release.

Business groups support the pipeline

Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, echoed the governor’s remarks, framing the pipeline expansion as a key piece of the state’s broader economic growth strategy.

“Arizona’s historic economic momentum has been fueled by our best-in-the-nation energy reliability and infrastructure leadership,” Watson said. “Transwestern’s Desert Southwest Pipeline expansion is an important investment in Arizona’s future and the continued growth of our dynamic high-tech economy.”

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