AUDIO: Arizona Senate committee revives bill to eliminate early voting

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THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.

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I’M EMMA VANDENEINDE. ( go to story )

HEADLINE: Arizona Election Bill (Justin)

SUMMARY: Arizona bill proposes to eliminate early voting.

AN ARIZONA SENATE COMMITTEE REVIVED AND ADVANCED A WIDE-RANGING ELECTION BILL MONDAY THAT WOULD ELIMINATE NEARLY ALL FORMS OF EARLY VOTING AND REQUIRE BALLOTS TO BE COUNTED BY HAND.

REPUBLICANS PASSED THE BILL OUT OF THE SENATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE ALONG PARTY LINES, BUT IT WILL LIKELY DIE IN A FULL VOTE OF THE SENATE.

REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE OF APACHE JUNCTION, JOHN FILLMORE ENDORSED THE BILL. HE SAYS IT WOULD ELIMINATE EARLY OR ABSENTEE VOTING. THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS FOR VOTERS WHO HAVE A DISABILITY OR EXPECT TO BE OUT OF STATE ON ELECTION DAY.

THE BILL WOULD REQUIRE PEOPLE TO VOTE AT A LOCAL PRECINCT POLLING PLACE. THE VOTES WOULD THEN BE COUNTED BY HAND, AND RELEASED WITHIN 24 HOURS.

HEADLINE: Arizona could be poised for a big wildfire year

SUMMARY: Drought and dry winters mean there’s plenty of dried grasses and trees to fuel a fire. A new national outlook on wildfire finds that southeastern Arizona may be the first part of the state to see fires.

HOST INTRO:

THE WILDLAND FIRE OUTLOOK SHOWS THE NUMBER OF FIRES AND ACRES BURNED SO FAR THIS YEAR IN THE U-S ARE NEARLY DOUBLE THE TEN-YEAR AVERAGE. AND MORE WILDFIRES ARE EXPECTED THIS YEAR. CRONKITE NEWS’S ALEXANDRA MORA MEDINA REPORTS ON WHAT ARIZONANS SHOULD PREPARE FOR.

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THE FIRE FORECAST FOR ARIZONA THIS MONTH INTO JUNE ISN’T LOOKING GOOD. THE NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER IN BOISE, IDAHO FINDS THAT SOUTHEAST ARIZONA MAY BE THE FIRST PART OF THE STATE TO SEE SIGNIFICANT WILDFIRES THIS MONTH.

MICHAEL CRIMMINS IS WATCHING THIS CLOSELY. HE’S A PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA AND A CLIMATE SPECIALIST.

“we’re gonna have a lot of other grasslands that might burn early in the spring. As we get later right up into the monsoon, we might see that fire risk move up into the high country.”

NICK NAUSLAR IS A METEOROLOGIST AT THE NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER. HE SAYS ANOTHER YEAR OF DROUGHT AND A DRY WINTER HAS INCREASED THE AMOUNT OF FUEL THAT’S READY TO BURN.

“grasses and shrubs, along with the drier trees in timber that are more conducive for above normal, significant fire potential heading into kind of spring and early summer.”

NAUSLAR SAYS HE EXPECTS TO SEE MORE ACTIVE THAN NORMAL FIRES THIS YEAR. FIRE FIGHTERS HAVE ALREADY HAD TO PUT OUT SMALL FIRES IN THE TONTO NATIONAL FOREST AND ARE DOING PRESCRIBED BURNS TO LESSEN THE THREAT OF FIRE.

ALEXANDRA MORA MEDINA, CRONKITE NEWS.

HEADLINE: A Yuma company works to keep dead solar panels out of landfills

SUMMARY: An Arizona State University professor and We Recycle Solar in Yuma are finding ways to recycle solar panels sustainably.

ARIZONA RANKS AMONG THE TOP FIVE STATES FOR GENERATING SOLAR POWER FROM BOTH UTILITY AND SMALL-SCALE INSTALLATIONS. BUT THESE PANELS CAN BE DAMAGED AND EVENTUALLY DIE.

CRONKITE NEWS’ AUTRIYA MANESHNI (AW-TREE-YUH MA-NESH-NEE) TAKES US TO A RECYCLING FACILITY IN YUMA THAT’S HELPING TO KEEP THESE OLD SOLAR PANELS OUT OF LANDFILLS.

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(**nats – Drilling**)

THAT’S NOT THE SOUND OF A TYPICAL CONSTRUCTION SITE.

“There’s about 27 of these per pallet. Some of these crews can crank out almost two pallets an hour. ”

THAT’S DWIGHT CLARK. HE DIRECTS RECYCLING, TECHNOLOGY AND COMPLIANCE AT “WE RECYCLE SOLAR” IN YUMA. THOSE WOODEN PALLETS HE MENTIONED CONTAIN…YOU GUESSED IT…DEAD SOLAR PANELS.

“We typically receive solar panels from a variety of places. And we look to either

reuse, repurpose, or recycle the solar panel.”

THE FACILITY LOOKS LIKE A GIANT AIRPLANE HANGAR FROM THE OUTSIDE. BUT INSIDE PILES OF BROKEN, DAMAGED OR DEAD SOLAR PANELS ARE LINED UP AGAINST THE WALLS WAITING TO BE RECYCLED. CLARK SAYS THESE PANELS COME TO YUMA FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY.

“More than a third of those panels came from northern Ohio. We just got six trucks in from South Florida.”

CLARK’S CREW TAKES A SOLAR PANEL AND REDUCES IT TO TINIER ELEMENTS, SUCH AS GLASS, ALUMINUM, SILICON (SILL-IH-CON) AND COPPER.

“It’s amazing that you go from this wafer to a bunch of ground that almost looks like dirt.”

HE SELLS THESE ELEMENTS TO COMPANIES TO REUSE…BUT NOT FOR MUCH.

“A solar panel will typically yield you somewhere depending on commodity prices, more than $3 per solar panel, usually less than seven to $10 at its peaks..”

AND TO MAKE THAT MONEY, CLARK AND HIS CREW HAVE TO REMOVE THE FRAME OF THE SOLAR PANEL AND SEPARATE THE GLASS AND THE SILICON.

“Alright so they lift a new panel off of the pallet, they set it up into their position. And then what they’re going to do is they’re going to take the air saws and they’re going to cut around the perimeter of the whole thing, separating the metal frame from the glass.”

CLARK’S TEAM HAS ONE GOAL.

“We make it our goal to avoid landfill for at least 95% of what comes in the door here.”

SOLAR PANELS HAVE A LIFESPAN OF ABOUT 25-30 YEARS. AND BY RECYCLING THEM… HARMFUL MATERIALS SUCH AS LEAD AND CADMIUM ARE KEPT OUT OF LANDFILLS. THOSE METALS CAN THEN BE REUSED IN REFURBISHED PANELS AND OTHER PRODUCTS.

BUT ONLY 10% OF SOLAR PANELS ARE ACTUALLY RECYCLED IN THE U-S. THAT’S BECAUSE RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY IS EXPENSIVE AND NOT FEDERALLY REGULATED.

PANELS INSTALLED IN THE EARLY 2000S ARE STARTING TO REACH THE END OF THEIR LIFESPAN. SO PEOPLE LIKE CLARK ARE BRACING FOR AN INFLUX OF SOLAR E-WASTE.

[ drilling / construction sound ]

CLARK’S OPERATION IS PRETTY HANDS-ON…TAKING APART DEAD SOLAR PANELS. BUT, RESEARCHERS AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY ARE LOOKING INTO USING CHEMICALS TO BREAK DOWN THE HIGH VALUE METALS WITHIN SOLAR PANELS.

ASU PROFESSOR MENG TAO, IS LEADING THIS NEW RECYCLING EFFORT

“If we waste our solar panels into landfills, that’s really counterproductive, that’s really the opposite of the green intention of solar panels.”

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HAS GIVEN TAO AND HIS TEAM A TWO-YEAR GRANT OF 485-THOUSAND DOLLARS TO HELP ADVANCE THE RESEARCH.

TAO HAS ALSO BROUGHT ON BOARD, PHD STUDENT, NATALIE CLICK.

“I found Dr. Tao’s project and I was like, ‘wow that’s so cool!’ Nobody has thought about recycling solar panels. I want to work on that!”

CLICK EXPLAINS THEIR WORK IS FOCUSED MORE ON RECOVERING METALS THAT COULD BE LOST IN TYPICAL SOLAR PANEL RECYCLING METHODS.

“So what we’re working on is a process to recover each of the metals in its pure form. So lead in a metallic lead form, silver in a metallic silver form, and then put those materials back into the market to create new solar panels”

CLICK SAYS THEY TRY TO RECOVER 100-PERCENT OF THE LEAD FROM SOLAR PANELS BECAUSE OF THE METALS’ TOXICITY.

“We don’t want this ending up in our environment, in our groundwater, things like that.”

RECYCLING SOLAR PANELS CAN YIELD AN ESTIMATED STOCK OF 78 MILLION TONNES OF RAW MATERIALS AND OTHER VALUABLE COMPONENTS BY 2050. AND IF THESE MATERIALS ARE PUT BACK INTO THE ECONOMY, ITS VALUE CAN EXCEED 15 BILLION DOLLARS IN THE SAME YEAR. THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY.

IN YUMA, AUTRIYA MANESHNI, CRONKITE NEWS.

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HEADLINE: Navajo Nation receives energy grant among other tribal nations (Emma)

SUMMARY: The Navajo Nation is one of a dozen tribal nations that will share $9 million in grant funding for renewable energy projects.

THAT’S NOT THE ONLY RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS IN ARIZONA. NINE MILLION DOLLARS IN FEDERAL GRANT FUNDING IS GOING TO A DOZEN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE U-S…INCLUDING THE NAVAJO NATION. THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCED MONDAY THAT THE MONEY WOULD BE USED FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS.

ONE-POINT-TWO MILLION DOLLARS WILL SUPPORT A SOLAR AND BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT IN KAYENTA (KAY-YEN-TAH) IN NORTHEASTERN ARIZONA. TRIBAL OFFICIALS SAID THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE ELECTRICITY TO 24 HOMES.

MANY TRIBAL MEMBERS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR A LONG TIME. AN ESTIMATED ONE-THIRD OF ALL RESIDENTS ON THE NAVAJO NATION ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE POWER GRID.

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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM ALEXANDRA MORA MEDINA AND AUTRIYA MANESHNI [AW-tree-yuh MA-nesh-nee]. ALSO THANKS TO JUSTIN TORRES, WHO PRODUCED TODAY’S SHOW.

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YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG.

THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M EMMA VANDENEINDE.

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AUDIO: Arizona Senate committee revives bill to eliminate early voting