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Tag: Bureau of Reclamation

Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun For years, two tribes have pointed to the barely used, multimillion-dollar project near Durango to show tribal water access challenges in the Colorado River Basin This summer, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe rolled out miles of temporary rubber water lines. The above-ground tubes had one job: carrying water to oil and gas operations on the reservation. But the pipelines also represent something else: a historic moment in a drawn-out, arduous debate over water in southwestern Colorado. In May, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe tapped into its water in the controversial Animas-La Plata Project, the first time a tribe has used its water from the project since it was authorized in 1968. The Animas-La Plata Project has come to encapsulate long-held dre...
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Colorado River Basin states inch toward fragile water compromise as federal deadlines approach
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, National

Colorado River Basin states inch toward fragile water compromise as federal deadlines approach

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun The federal government laid out firm deadlines for the process to decide how to manage the river’s future. As the negotiations continue, environmental conditions in the basin worsen. Colorado River Basin states are almost, sort of, close to a small compromise in their negotiations that focuses on matching reservoir releases more closely to the river’s actual flow. Colorado water watchers seem to be rolling with it — so far.  Top negotiators in Colorado and six basin states offered a glimpse into the high-stakes talks for the first time in months during several water meetings this week. The states are negotiating how to manage the future water supply for 40 million people once the existing rules expire in 2026.  The opposing sides in the ne...
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Walcher: The “sky is falling” water narrative doesn’t hold water
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Approved, GregWalcher.com, National, State

Walcher: The “sky is falling” water narrative doesn’t hold water

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com Every year for the past 25, at least, negotiating teams for the seven states on the Colorado River have worked to overcome a new crisis, invariably driven by two entities: the State of California and the federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). For a quarter-century, those teams have responded to federal pressure based on the dubious theory that an ongoing drought, and a resulting decline in the river’s flow, somehow changed the law and gave BOR authority to ignore the Interstate Compact. Not once has the federal agency ever acknowledged the government’s own role in reducing the river’s flow, by neglecting to manage thirsty invasive species like tamarisk, and especially by allowing national forests to become so overgrown that much of...
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