SALT LAKE CITY — Thousands of miles away from the nation's capital, Jenson-area rancher Cody Wilkins was wandering through the halls of the Utah State Capitol to meet with state lawmakers about water and agriculture needs.
He told FOX 13 News he was keeping an eye on negotiations between states along the Colorado River for any word of an agreement.
"We operate our ranch off the Colorado River," he explained.
Wilkins said whatever happened in Washington, D.C.? His community would have to live with.
"It’s a very big concern for our area," he said. "For curtailments and water rights and stuff."
The governors of states along the Colorado River meet Friday with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in hopes of reaching an agreement to manage the water for more than 40 million people in the American West.
Could this idea help solve some of the Colorado River water fights?
"We each had an opportunity to present our state’s position," Colorado Governor Jared Polis told Scripps News as he left the U.S. Department of Interior building on Friday.
Gov. Polis described the meeting as productive.
"We’re really working to identify the discrepancies that exist and is there a way of bridging them," he said. "I’m optimistic that these discussions today are part of that process of hopefully achieving a sustainable way to preserve the mighty Colorado River and all the people it serves."
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who attended the meeting, did not immediately have a comment through his office. He first revealed to FOX 13 News the meeting would take place and was hopeful everyone could reach a deal.
California Governor Gavin Newsom did not attend, his office said, but authorized his natural resources secretary to act on his behalf.
"We recognize what is at stake," Gov. Newsom said in a statement Friday. "Together, we continue to work with our partner states with an open hand and in good faith, with the shared goal that we can reach a durable agreement that protects all users of the Colorado River, including the tens of millions of Californians who depend on it."
But lines have been drawn. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said in a statement released ahead of the meeting that her state has already made a lot of sacrifices.
"Arizona is a leader in common-sense water conservation policies, and we are at the table and ready to compromise, but every state that relies on the Colorado River must share in its protection, not the Lower Basin alone," she said.
On Friday, the Colorado River Authority of Utah updated members of the Utah State Legislature on negotiations. Amy Haas, the group's executive director and one of the negotiators over the river's future, told FOX 13 News there are sticking points on any pending lawsuits, the sustainability of Lake Powell and Upper Basin reservoirs and conservation cuts.
Upper and Lower Basin states have clashed over who cuts what and how much. Facing a horrible hydrology with less water in the river, Lower Basin states have offered 1.5 million acre feet in cuts.
"That is not sufficient to save the system and, in fact, the feds have said as much," Haas insisted.
Still, she was hopeful the states could reach a deal.
"We like to ride these deadlines on the Colorado River, and we do a lot of brinksmanship," Haas told FOX 13 News. "I would say the possibilities are still open, available for a seven-state consensus agreement. I hope we will get there, but now the draft EIS has been released? I think there’s a real possibility we are looking at federal alternative and one that the states will not endorse."
The draft environmental impact statement is a list of ideas the Trump administration has put forward for managing the river. At a summit of Colorado River water users in Las Vegas in December, the acting commissioner for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation warned that decisions could be made states won't like.
The Interior Department has set a Feb. 14 deadline for a framework agreement. The current deals governing the Colorado River expire in October.
This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River at greatsaltlakenews.org/coloradoriver
