Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s entry into the bitter fight among Western states over the drought-stricken Colorado River on Friday yielded promises to work harder to reach a compromise — but no major breakthroughs, according to two governors who attended the gathering.
“I think what we heard from all seven states is that everyone wants to get to a deal, and everyone’s willing to do more to get there, and so that, in and of itself, was worth it for us to come here,” Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said in an interview after the more than two-hour-long meeting in the secretary’s office.
But both Hobbs and Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who have been sharply at odds over who should bear the burden of supply cuts, said that Burgum issued no threats, ultimatums or significant pressure — tactics that the federal government has wielded to prod states into agreement in every major water deal along the river in recent years.
“The pressure is felt intensely by all seven states because of the uncertainty of courts and litigation. So there’s no need for other external pressures,” Polis said in an interview.
Burgum summoned the governors to his office as the states barrel toward Interior’s Feb. 14 deadline for new rules to divvy up the supplies of a river that supports 40 million people, economies from Denver to Phoenix to Los Angeles, 5.5 million acres of irrigated farmland and 30 federally recognized tribes.
The Colorado River’s flows have shrunk 20 percent over the last quarter-century of megadrought in the West as climate change warms the region and alters precipitation patterns. Water levels at the river’s two main reservoirs — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — have plunged and could, within months, fall too low to produce hydropower and guarantee releases downstream to Arizona, California and Nevada.
“This is one of the toughest challenges facing the West, but the Department remains hopeful that, by working together, the seven basin governors can help deliver a durable path forward,” Burgum said in a statement. “Looking at this as a former governor, the responsibility each of them carries to meet the needs of their constituents cannot be understated, and we are committed to partnering with them to reach consensus.”
The seven states have been deadlocked for more than two years, with the upstream states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming pitted against the downstream states of Arizona, California and Nevada.
And it was immediately apparent Friday that some of the major sticking points remain.
Hobbs, whose state is most legally vulnerable in the water fight, has said that for her to sign onto any water-sharing deal, she must see “shared sacrifice” from the upstream states. While they have expressed a willingness to create voluntary water conservation programs, the upstream states have refused to commit to anything mandatory.
Coming out of the meeting, Hobbs said she thinks that upstream states understand that “they need to go back and have some firm, measurable things in their conservation programs.”
But Colorado’s lead negotiator, Becky Mitchell, quickly put out a statement in response underscoring that “any contributions must be voluntary.”
“As several upper basin governors clearly stated at the meeting, we cannot and will not impose mandatory reductions on our water rights holders to send water downstream,” she said.
Interior had hoped to cut a deal to govern the river for the next two decades, but the lack of progress has instead shifted that target toward a five-year deal that could be the first step toward a longer one.
Wade Crowfoot, California’s natural resources secretary who stood in for California Gov. Gavin Newsom at the meeting, said that federal officials were pushing that five-year term Friday in the hopes of reconciling differences between the upstream and downstream states. Crowfoot called a short-term deal “the most pragmatic way to achieve a compromise.”
Hobbs said that federal officials stressed that a short-term deal would have to be a “bridge” toward a longer-term one.
“We have to have a way to get to a 20-year deal if we do a temporary deal right now,” she said.
The meeting did include discussion of one element that could help grease the skids for a deal: federal money.
“What we did discuss is all of us — the seven states and the administration — supporting additional investments in the conservation efforts and water projects as a way to bridge that gap,” Polis said.
The federal funding is especially salient to Polis after President Donald Trump earlier this month vetoed a noncontroversial measure supporting a separate water project in his state. Trump told POLITICO the bill was “wasting a lot of money and people are leaving the state” because of the “bad governor.”
Polis said that “there’s no partisan lens” when it comes to the Colorado River.
And Newsom’s absence at the table Friday, which his office said was due to a long-planned family trip, conveniently avoided an in-person showdown between the likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and Trump officials. Newsom spoke to Burgum on Thursday night to explain his absence, and the conflicts between Newsom and Trump didn’t come up during the meeting, according to Crowfoot.
But it’s Arizona that poses the biggest political challenge for the Trump administration. The closely divided presidential swing state is the most vulnerable state in the fight over the Colorado River, since the 336-mile-long canal that shuttles water to Phoenix, Tucson, and other cities, tribes and farmers in the central part of the state holds the lowest priority rights under the legal regime that governs Western water and is the first to see cuts under a strict application of the law.
Hobbs, who is facing reelection in a closely divided state that voted for Trump in 2024, has made protecting her state’s access to the river a top priority and has appealed to the Trump administration by trumpeting the booming high-tech sector around Phoenix.
She said that every scenario Interior floated last month for managing the river in the absence of a state deal would be “devastating” for central Arizona.
“But in being devastating to Arizona, it is going to impact Trump’s agenda,” Hobbs said. “We are manufacturing the most advanced semiconductors in the Western Hemisphere in Arizona. That is fueled by [the] Colorado River. The semiconductor ecosystem that we’ve built in Arizona that is fueling our position in the AI race — that is important to the President.”
The parties may have more time to work out the nuances, though. Both Hobbs and Polis said they didn’t expect a deal by the administration’s Valentine’s Day deadline.
“I think we are getting closer to a framework, but obviously a lot of the details will be in the final language and that will take some time,” Polis said.
Camille von Kaenel contributed to this report.
