Competing priorities, outsized demands and the federal government’s retreat from a threatened deadline all combined to thwart a deal last summer on how to drastically cut water use from the parched Colorado River, according to emails obtained by AP.
The Interior Department is still evaluating proposals for a slice of the
But as the weeks passed and proposals were exchanged, the Lower Basin states barely reached half that amount, and the commitment was nowhere near firm, the emails showed. Adding to the difficulty was not knowing whatIn a series of exchanges through July, Arizona and California each proposed multiple ways to achieve cuts, building on
“Otherwise,” he wrote, “I genuinely believe that we are at an impasse, and we’re all headed to a very dark place.”“It was futile, it wasn’t enough. We did not trust that California was going to come through on their piece of it,” Cooke said in an interview. The Upper Basin states of New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — which historically haven’t used their full supplies — are looking toward the Lower Basin states to do much of the work.
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AP Exclusive: Emails reveal tensions in Colorado River talksCompeting priorities, outsized demands and the federal government's retreat from a threatened deadline all combined to thwart a voluntary deal last summer on how to drastically cut water use from the parched Colorado River
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AP Exclusive: Emails reveal tensions in Colorado River talksCompeting priorities, outsized demands and the federal government's retreat from a threatened deadline all combined to thwart a voluntary deal last summer on how to drastically cut water use from the parched Colorado River
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AP Exclusive: Emails reveal tensions in Colorado River talksCompeting priorities, outsized demands and the federal government's retreat from a threatened deadline stymied a deal last summer on how to reduce water use from the Colorado River, emails show
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