{"id":24759,"date":"2024-11-21T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/feds-outline-necessary-steps-for-colorado-river-agreement-by-2026\/"},"modified":"2024-11-21T17:00:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T17:00:59","slug":"feds-outline-necessary-steps-for-colorado-river-agreement-by-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/feds-outline-necessary-steps-for-colorado-river-agreement-by-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds outline ‘necessary steps’ for Colorado River agreement by 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A formerly sunken boat sits on cracked earth hundreds of feet from the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on May 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. (AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Federal water officials made public on Wednesday what they called \u201cnecessary steps\u201d for seven states and multiple tribes that use Colorado River water and hydropower to meet an August 2026 deadline for deciding how to manage the waterway in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we show our collective work,\u201d Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said as she outlined four proposals for action and one \u201cno action\u201d alternative that she and Biden\u2019s government will leave for the incoming Trump Administration \u2013 with formal environmental assessments still to come and just 20 months to act.<\/p>\n

The announcement offered no recommendation or decision about how to divvy up water from the river, which provides electricity to millions of homes and businesses, irrigates vast stretches of desert farmland and reaches kitchen faucets in cities including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Instead it provided a bullet-point sample of elements from competing proposals submitted last March<\/a> by three key river stakeholders: Upper Basin states Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, where most of the water originates; Lower Basin states California, Arizona and Nevada, which rely most on water captured by dams at lakes Powell and Mead; and more than two dozen Native American tribes with rights to river water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not going to take the any of the proposals,\u201d said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. \u201cThe federal government put the components together in a different way \u2026 and modeled them to provide near-maximum flexibility for negotiations to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

One alternative would have the government act to \u201cprotect critical infrastructure\u201d including dams and oversee how much river water is delivered, relying on existing agreements during periods when demand outstrips supply. \u201cBut there would be no new delivery and storage mechanisms,\u201d the announcement said.<\/p>\n

A second option would add delivery and storage for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, along with \u201cfederal and non-federal storage\u201d to boost system sustainability and flexibility \u201cthrough a new approach to distributing\u201d water during shortages.<\/p>\n

The third, dubbed \u201ccooperative conservation,\u201d cited a proposal from advocates aimed at managing and gauging water releases from Lake Powell amid \u201cshared contributions to sustain system integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a fourth, hybrid proposal includes parts of Upper and Lower Basin and Tribal Nations plans, the announcement said. It would add delivery and storage for Powell and Mead, encourage conservation and agreements for water use among customers and \u201cafford the Tribal and non-Tribal entities the same ability to use these mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cno action\u201d option does not meet the purpose of study but was included because it is required under the National Environmental Policy Act, the announcement said.<\/p>\n

In 2026, legal agreements that apportion the river will expire. That means that amid the effects of climate change and more than 20 years of drought, river stakeholders and the federal government have just months to agree what to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have a pretty wide gap between us,\u201d Tom Buschatzke, Arizona\u2019s main negotiator on the Colorado River, said in a conference call with reporters. He referred to positions of Upper Basin and Lower Basin states. Tribes including the Gila River Indian Community<\/a> in Arizona have also been flexing their long-held water rights.<\/p>\n

Buschatzke said he saw \u201csome really positive elements\u201d in the alternatives but needed time to review them in detail. \u201cI think anything that could be done to move things forward on a faster track is a good thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado said in a statement the alternatives \u201cunderscore how serious a situation we\u2019re facing on the Colorado River.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only path forward is a collaborative, seven-state plan to solve the Colorado River crisis without taking this to court,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, we\u2019ll watch the river run dry while we sue each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s announcement came two weeks after Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election to Republican former President Donald Trump, and two weeks ahead of a key meeting of the involved parties at Colorado River Water Users Association meetings in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network advocacy group, said \u201csnapshots\u201d offered in the announcement \u201cunderscore the uncertainty that is swirling around future river management as a new administration prepares to take office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe river needs basin-wide curtailments, agreements to make tribes whole, a moratorium on new dams and diversions, commitments for endangered species and new thinking about outdated infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Buschatzke declined to speculate about whether Trump administration officials will pick up where Biden\u2019s leaves off. But Porter, at the Kyl Center, said the announcement \u201cshows an expectation of continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leadership is going to change, but there are a lot of people who have been working on this for a long time who will still be involved in the negotiations and modeling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

___<\/em><\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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