Colorado River choices botched by feds under Biden, letter to Burgum alleges

Yahoo

08-03-2025

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The federal agency charged with managing the Colorado River failed to do its job properly when it excluded a viable option presented by Nevada, Arizona and California, according to documents that surfaced Friday.
The three states that make up the Lower Basin are fighting a critical war for their rights to water from the river. The future of growing cities is in the balance, along with farms, businesses and everyone else in the desert Southwest.
On Friday, a Feb. 13 letter to incoming Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was obtained by 8 News Now, along with a supporting document that argues the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is making a big mistake by refusing to address a known problem with Glen Canyon Dam, which creates the nation's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell.
The dam is unable to release enough water to meet downriver commitments once Lake Powell drops below 3,490 feet elevation. And none of the five alternatives under active study by Reclamation directly addresses that problem, Lower Basin leaders say. The alternative that they proposed was eliminated in Reclamation's Jan. 18 decision that marked the agency's handoff from the Biden administration to President Donald Trump's team. The Lower Basin wants Reclamation's 54-page memo retracted.
The Great Basin Water Network, a conservation effort headed by Kyle Roerink in Nevada, released the documents.
'We applaud the fortitude and willingness of Lower Basin leadership to stand up for issues that could have immense impact on the 25 million residents of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, agricultural communities, and ecosystems,' Roerink told 8 News Now.
'Lower Basin water managers highlighting the River Outlet Works issue at Glen Canyon Dam is unprecedented and couldn't have come at a better time. With such small snowpacks looming large, we need to get serious about what smaller river flows will do to our ways of life. We hope the Trump Administration heeds the calls of the officials on the letter. It is a golden opportunity to do what no other administration has been willing to do,' Roerink said.
The letter is signed by John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, as well as the chief water managers in Arizona and California. They signed the letter as 'governor's representative' of each state.
'Of particular concern is the report's complete omission of compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the foundation of the Law of the River,' the letter states.
'Additionally, the prior administration's approach to protecting the Lake Powell outlet works by reducing releases from Lake Powell — rather than making infrastructure repairs and improvements — is shortsighted and harms the Lower Basin States by slashing the water available to our farmers, communities, and economies. These profound impacts can be avoided by some combination of straight forward engineering fixes, moving water to Lake Powell from upstream reservoirs when necessary, and temporary reductions in Upper Basin use,' according to the letter.
As of Friday, snowpack levels in the Upper Colorado River Basin were at 92% of normal. Snowpack generally peaks in the first week of April. Levels can fluctuate due to warm temperatures and precipitation. The past five days have been among the best for conditions in Upper Basin, with snowpack growing from 85% of normal since Monday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture measures the snow water equivalent (SWE) at 130 SNOTEL monitoring stations in the Upper Basin, with daily updates.
Entsminger and his Lower Basin colleagues asked to meet with Burgum to brief him on the situation. In an attachment to their letter, they criticized Reclamation for failing to adequately meet the requirements of the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process.
Reclamation didn't disclose how it interprets the Colorado River Compact of 1922, known as the Law of the River. Without that information, states and water managers across the Southwest are left to guess what the federal government will do if Lake Powell drops dramatically again.
Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell dropped to about 25% capacity in 2021. Lake Powell is currently at 34% and Lake Mead is at 35%.
Conservation groups identified the problem at Glen Canyon Dam in August 2022, revealing that the four pipes that make up the River Outlet Works couldn't carry enough water to meet requirements of the Law of the River. Those are the only pipes available when Lake Powell drops below 3,490 feet. It is currently at 3,562 feet.
When snowpack grew to 160% of normal in 2023, Reclamation released an enormous amount of water in a 'high-flow experiment' release through Glen Canyon Dam's River Outlet Works. In April 2024, Reclamation said an inspection found damage inside the pipes, yet another problem that Reclamation has at the dam. The high-flow experiment releases haven't been repeated since 2023.
Glen Canyon Dam has been a frequent target despite a thriving recreation industry at Lake Powell. Reclamation has staunchly defended importance or the infrastructure that produces power there for the surrounding region.
Lower Basin leaders called on Burgum to direct Reclamation to 'retract its previously released Alternatives Report and meet with representatives of the Lower Basin States to discuss the technical and legal deficiencies' in that report.
They conclude: 'The Lower Basin States have demonstrated here that Reclamation's range of alternatives in the ongoing NEPA process is improperly constrained by Reclamation's required assumption to protect elevation 3,490 ft in Lake Powell for every action alternative included for detailed consideration to date. Reclamation's own admissions show that options to protect Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure other than a hard-protect elevation of 3,490 ft for Lake Powell may exist but are impermissibly under consideration outside the NEPA process. Reclamation's unsupported assumption to protect Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure in only one way impermissibly elevates a narrow, artificially constrained infrastructure protection priority over the congressional purposes for project operation and the requirements of the Compact and 1944 Treaty with Mexico to supply water. Reclamation's failure to identify and consider options for the Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure situation in its DEIS will — if not corrected — render the resulting Final EIS and Record of Decision invalid.'
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