做厙勛圖

"The proposal for mediation attempts to address the current deadlock between Upper Basin and Lower Basin approaches and begin to deal with the basin���s dire hydrologic conditions." said the Upper Colorado River Commission, which represents Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

"The commissioners believe a structured mediation process can support authentic negotiations and collective action to address the Basin���s operational challenges,"�� the commission said in a news release last week.��.

The request for a mediator to handle this dispute follows about two years of fruitless negotiations among the various state representatives. There have been several major sources of dispute, but the biggest one has been over how the two basins should split the cuts in river water use that would be needed to bring human demand in line with shrinking supply.

The Upper Basin states' request comes not long before the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is supposed to announce its plan for managing the river, in the absence of an agreement among the basin states. A new plan is necessary because the river's current operating guidelines expire Sept. 30.

Doug Burgum, secretary of Reclamation's parent agency, the Interior Department, said in 做厙勛圖 on April 13 that Interior will make a final decision on a new operating plan by summer 2026.��

The request for mediation also comes as the river's condition continues to deteriorate. Hot, dry weather has held down water flows in the river for most of the year, and there's a risk that spring-summer runoff into Lake Powell will be the lowest on record since Lake Powell started filling in the 1960s.

On April 17, the Bureau of Reclamation announced it will release lots of extra water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir at the Utah-Wyoming state line to help prop up Lake Powell at the Arizona-Utah border. The bureau also plans to slash releases of water from Lake Powell to Lake Mead to keep Powell at��a higher elevation. The purpose of both actions is to keep Powell from falling below 3,490 feet, a level at which Glen Canyon Dam's turbines could no longer generate electric power.

The Star contacted representatives of the Lower Basin states ��� Arizona, Nevada and California ��� to get their reactions to the mediation idea. Only one of the states' top water officials ��� J.B. Hamby of California ��� responded.��

He didn't say specifically whether he would support or oppose mediation, but his tone in an email to the Star was somewhat skeptical.

"We proposed mediation more than a year ago only to have it shot down, namely by Colorado, as there was 'too little time'," said Hamby, California's Colorado River commissioner.

"Now, we���re in the final hours of the process at this point, and I wonder about the utility of it in these waning hours. It would have been helpful if we had taken that path well over a year ago."

Responding, Becky Mitchell, Colorado's Colorado River commissioner, said in an email to the Star, "Colorado is committed to partnering with all basin states to reach an agreement that works for everyone. The Upper Division States originally recommended a facilitated or mediated process in the early months of 2022, which was declined by the Lower Basin States.

"Our renewed call for mediation follows in the Upper Basin���s long-standing commitment to a seven-state consensus ��� an effort that has been hampered by consistent threats of litigation from the Lower Basin. Mr. Hamby���s comments do not accurately reflect the Upper Basin���s long-standing interest in having a neutral third-party support the process," Mitchell said.

In turn, Hamby said he can't speak to what happened in 2022 because he wasn't a Colorado River commissioner then. But he does see some value in trying to mediate this dispute, he said.

"I think a value of mediation is the ability to call people on nonsense, which there is plenty of in this space, and be able to focus on facts," Hamby said. "California has consistently been committed to getting a seven-state deal done and bringing compromise and creativity to achieve it.

"But we need equally serious efforts to do the same. No seven state deal is possible if the continued expectation is (that) the Lower Basin states and Mexico must bear the entire burden of mandatory, verifiable reductions."

In its news release calling for mediation, the Upper Colorado River Commission said the effort should focus on river operations, federal funding and what it called "creative and flexible programs."

���Time is short, but structured negotiations through mediation offer a new path for authentic discussions. Even at this late stage, we should pursue every opportunity to reach a workable agreement," New Mexico Colorado River Commissioner Estevan Lopez said in the news release

Utah Commissioner Gene Shawcroft said, ���The hydrology is dire and it demands that we collectively develop new solutions. Those solutions must work for both the Upper Basin and Lower Basin if we are going to protect the Colorado River system.���