Politics

Burgum Says Arizona’s Democratic Governor ‘Wrong’ To Fight Colorado River Cuts In Court

(Screen Capture/CSPAN)

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Arizona’s Democratic governor is wrong to fight federal cuts to the state’s Colorado River water in court.

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs moved Oct. 16 to join a Nevada lawsuit against the Interior Department, and Burgum told Tucson’s 13 News in an interview published Wednesday that the case “may just get tossed out.” He called Arizona’s cuts for the first two years of the federal plan “completely manageable.”

“Litigation doesn’t create more water,” Burgum told the outlet. “We believe that the Governor is wrong on this topic.”

Burgum argued that Arizona holds “among the most junior water rights of any of the seven states” and that a court fight “would be a bad deal for Arizona.”

The secretary was referring to the seven Western states in the 1922 Colorado River Compact that share the river’s basin: the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada and the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Hobbs said in an Oct. 16 release that Arizona is “drawing a line in the sand.” She said the federal government refuses “to hold the Upper Basin accountable for the water deliveries they owe Arizona.”

The state wants to keep its two-year Lower Basin deal with California and Nevada, the governor’s office said in the release. Arizona is challenging other parts of the federal plan that it says could cut Lower Basin water by as much as three million acre-feet a year.

A Hobbs spokesperson said in a statement to 13 News that the governor “would rather negotiate than fight in court, but the federal government and the Upper Basin have left Arizona with no choice.”

Hobbs’ office and the Interior Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

Burgum signed the federal plan Aug. 21, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The plan cuts the water that Arizona, California and Nevada get from the river by 1.25 million acre-feet a year in both 2027 and 2028, the bureau said.

Arizona’s share of that cut would be 760,000 acre-feet a year if the three states follow through on their proposed sharing deal, according to the bureau. The Upper Basin states do not face any required cuts, 13 News reported.

“Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River,” Burgum said in the August release.

Burgum told 13 News that the suit is about cuts that might come at least three years from now. He said that “innovation, not regulation” would solve the basin’s water problems over the next 100 years.

The plan also aims to keep Lake Powell from dropping below 3,510 feet “to support continued operational reliability at Glen Canyon Dam,” according to the bureau.

Hobbs is running for reelection against Republican Rep. Andy Biggs in November, 13 News reported. Arizona’s cuts begin Jan. 1, 2027, according to the outlet.