House lawmakers join senators in rallying around Colorado River

A bipartisan coalition of Home lawmakers are forming a “Congressional Colorado River Caucus,” with the aim of collaborating on methods to greatest tackle worsening drought situations throughout the seven-state basin. 

“Collectively, and dealing with our colleagues within the Senate, we are going to collaborate with one another and state and native leaders, placing the pursuits of our communities above all else,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.

Neguse, who serves as rating member of the Home Subcommittee on Federal Lands, introduced the creation of the caucus, which can embrace members from six of the seven Colorado River states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

The lawmakers intend to debate the important points affecting the Colorado River, which supplies water for 40 million individuals throughout the West.   

Members of the caucus will work “collectively in the direction of our shared aim to mitigate the impacts felt by record-breaking ranges of drought,” in keeping with Neguse. 

“We should defend the reliability and consistency of this important water supply,” he mentioned.

The Congressional Colorado River Caucus follows a related bipartisan effort launched within the Senate by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) final month. 

The Senate caucus — whose members come from all seven basin states, together with Wyoming — fashioned with the aim of serving to sparring factions agree on consumption cutbacks. 

Negotiations about lowering Colorado River water utilization have been happening for months, following a name from the federal Bureau of Reclamation for the states to come back to an settlement. 

The results of these dialogue to this point has been two opposing proposals — a joint deal from six out of the seven states, adopted by a competing supply from the outlier, California.

Within the Congressional Colorado River Caucus announcement on Wednesday, Neguse’s workplace famous that “a consensus has but to be reached, however negotiations are ongoing.”

Main the caucus alongside Neguse is Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), whereas members embrace Reps. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Mark Amodei (R-NV), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and John Curtis (R-Utah).

“Water is our most valuable useful resource, and we should tackle the uncertainty brought on by the extreme drought that’s impacting 40 million residents of Arizona and the Southwest,” Ciscomani mentioned in a press release. 

“I sit up for collaborating with my colleagues on options that deliver collectively the Higher and Decrease Basins and safe a robust water future for us all,” he added.