Local Opinion: Future heat waves will be catastrophic for Arizona. Governor Hobbs is doing nothing to prepare.

In coming summers, daily high temperatures in parts of Arizona will surpass 120ºF for days on end, causing the power grid to collapse. The result — millions of Arizonans stuck in scorching temperatures without AC — would overwhelm hospitals with heat stroke patients. But at those temperatures roads will melt, making transportation to hospitals nearly impossible.

While I was Tucson lead for the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition, I created a plan to protect us. This plan was developed with help from experts, including Dr. David Hondula, whose study about heat wave dangers was published in The New York Times.

The plan has four parts: upgrade the power grid and roads, expand cooling centers, and equip them with backup power. I, along with others in the coalition, spoke to local legislators and power providers about implementing the plan.

Those conversations confirmed my worst fears. A Pima County Supervisor explained Pima County found that many of their roads weren’t prepared for coming heatwaves. But Pima County didn’t test roads within the limits of any city, and city representatives said they hadn’t tested their roads. A City of Tucson representative told me the city had purchased one portable power generator for cooling centers, making the city prepared for short term power blackouts covering a small area. But the generator would do little if a power blackout were to cover the whole city, especially considering Tucson’s cooling centers only have the capacity for the city’s homeless population.

A representative from a local power provider said that in the event of a power shortage, they would import the power from a nearby state. But, as they pointed out, this only works if temperatures are reasonably cool in nearby states. In the event of a serious regional heatwave, they explained, everyone in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington would face brownouts and blackouts.

All the local government representatives we met with said they’d try to prepare, but they can’t do much without the state government’s help. So I emailed Gov. Katie Hobbs explaining the danger Arizona is in and what needs to be done. In her brief response, she said that power regulation is the responsibility of the Arizona Corporation Commission. She ignored my detailed concerns about Arizona’s road and cooling center insufficiencies. Essentially, Gov. Hobbs said that she will do absolutely nothing to save the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Arizonans who will be put in mortal danger in coming heatwaves.

If enough people contact her about this, I hope she will be persuaded to take action. In the meantime, if the forecast shows temperatures reaching 120º for multiple days in a row, I’m leaving. I recommend you do the same.