Arizona seeks federal action on Colorado River
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Colorado River. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Gov. Katie Hobbs and legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle asked the U.S. Department of the Interior Tuesday to intervene as the seven Colorado River basin states missed a federal deadline on a new water sharing agreement.
Why it matters: The clock is ticking for Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming to agree on how much water each state gets for years to come from the Colorado River, which is suffering from a "megadrought" that's lasted more than two decades.
The big picture: If the basin states can't reach an agreement, the Interior Department could mandate one, which could lead to litigation.
- The states missed a federally imposed deadline to agree on water cuts and allocations from the river.
- Final details are supposed to be established by February.
- An agreement must be reached by October 2026, when the current agreement on water for the next year expires.
The latest: Hobbs, Senate President Warren Petersen, House Speaker Steve Montenegro, and minority leaders Sen. Priya Sundareshan and Rep. Oscar De Los Santos wrote a letter Tuesday to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum blaming the upper basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming for the impasse, saying they're "refusing to participate in any sharing of water shortages."
- The bipartisan group urged Burgum to use his authority to ensure "measurable and enforceable conservation requirements" on upper basin states.
- Hobbs also said on Tuesday that she wants Interior to "broker" a solution, not impose one, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
Threat level: The bipartisan group appealed to the national interest, telling Burgum that Arizona's water supply is critical for the state's semiconductor industry and winter agriculture sector, among other things.
What they're saying: Arizona officials framing state water as a national interest was "well played," Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, told Axios.
- The letter shows Arizona's willingness to move beyond a negotiated settlement and seek unilateral action by the Interior Department, she said.
- There's still time for the basin states to reach a negotiated settlement, Porter said, but she views a federally mandated solution as more likely now than it was on Monday.
- She said that "showing the seriousness of the state's resolve is no doubt part of Arizona's strategy in sending this letter."
Between the lines: The feds need to take a firmer hand in negotiations, though past experience makes that possibility murkier, Ted Cooke, former general manager of the Central Arizona Project, which transports Colorado River water to the state's interior, told Axios.
- Echoing Hobbs, Cooke said he'd like to see the feds broker, but not impose, a solution.
- The feds need to get over their reluctance to avoid the appearance of taking sides and understand that people will be unhappy with any solution they come up with, he said.
- "The river is the client at this point," Cooke said. "The water users have to be subordinated to the health of the river at this stage of the game. And the United States needs to recognize that and take the necessary action."
Zoom out: While staking its own claim via the letter, Arizona also joined the other basin states, Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in a joint statement Tuesday saying that while more work needs to be done, "collective progress has been made that warrants continued efforts to define and approve details for a finalized agreement."