PHOENIX — Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson wrote Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally on Friday to request they work with their colleagues to promptly ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). 

As a public utility commissioner serving on the Arizona Corporation Commission, Commissioner Márquez Peterson said, “I see the USMCA as providing net benefits for all signatories in the areas of energy, water, and telecommunications policy, which complement and support our push for a cleaner and more interconnected economy.” 

Specifically, Commissioner Márquez Peterson said she supports ratification of the USMCA because it contains several provisions that would strengthen the numerous physical, environmental, and economic interconnections that are already in place between Arizona and its energy, wastewater, and telecommunications partners to the south.

“As we begin to discuss building a more robust and interconnected regional grid in the west, we will necessarily need to consider how we connect and interact with our clean energy consumers and suppliers on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border,” she said. “More access to transmission infrastructure between these two partners will provide benefits and clean energy opportunities for everyone, while promotion of electric vehicle charging and production by manufacturers and suppliers will help both neighbors as they strive to achieve shared air quality goals across the region.”

According to usmcanow.org, a joint effort of Governor Doug Ducey’s Office and the Arizona-Mexico Commission, passage of the USMCA now would provide over 228,000 Arizona jobs and nearly $10 million dollars in exports to Canada and Mexico.

To learn more about the USMCA and how it benefits Arizona, click here. 

For a copy of Commissioner Márquez Peterson’s letter to Senator Kyrsten Sinema, click here.

For a copy of Commissioner Márquez Peterson’s letter to Senator Martha McSally, click here.

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About Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson, MBA, IOM:

Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson was appointed to the Arizona Corporation Commission by Governor Doug Ducey in May of 2019. She is the first Latina to serve in a statewide seat in the state of Arizona.

Lea has been an entrepreneur in our community for many years and served as the President/ CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber from 2009 until November of 2018. The Tucson Hispanic Chamber serves the business community in the bilingual, bi-cultural region of the Arizona-Sonora border and was recognized as the Hispanic Chamber of the Year in 2013 by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber represents over 1800-member businesses and in partnership with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the largest chambers in the State of Arizona.

She ran for Congress in Arizona Congressional District 2 in 2018 and won a competitive primary race though lost the general election. She previously served as the Executive Director for Greater Tucson Leadership (GTL) from 2005 to 2009 and owned and operated a Business Brokerage Firm from 2005 to 2009 and a chain of six gasoline stations / convenience stores with 50 employees from 1998 to 2005 in the Tucson region.

Lea has been appointed to serve on the Arizona Judicial Council which advises the Arizona Supreme Court and the Arizona Finance Authority, the state’s bonding authority. She chairs the Board of Directors of Carondelet’s St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Hospitals in Tucson and is the former Chair of the Pima Association of Governments’ Economic Vitality Committee. She serves on the Boards of the University of Arizona Foundation and the Pima County Workforce Investment Board and is the President of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Tucson. She also serves on the national board for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

She received her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona, and her Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. She is married with two children.

Twitter: @LeaPeterson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leamarquezpeterson/

The Arizona Corporation Commission was established by the state’s constitution to regulate public utilities and business incorporation. The Corporation Commission is Arizona’s co-equal, fourth branch of government. The five Commissioners elected to the Corporation Commission oversee executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings on behalf of Arizonans when it comes to their water, electricity, telephone, and natural gas resources as well as the regulation of securities, pipeline, and railroad safety. To learn more about the Arizona Corporation Commission and its Commissioners, visit http://azcc.gov.