The Interior Department floated new emergency changes to rules governing how water from the Colorado River is allocated that would enable the department to oversee reduced releases to states that rely on the river.
Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation published an environmental review of the possible changes on Tuesday in response to historic drought conditions threatening the ability of the river and its reservoirs to provide sufficient water and hydroelectric power to the region.The draft environmental impact statement reviews measures that would amend federal guidelines covering the operation of Glen Canyon and Hoover dams in particular and water allocations to Arizona, Nevada, and California.
The 23-year period from 2000 through 2022 is the driest period in more than a century for the region and one of the driest periods in the last 1,200 years, according to Interior. “Recognizing the severity of the worsening drought, the Biden-Harris administration is bringing every tool and every resource to bear through the President’s Investing in America agenda to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River System now and into the future," Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau said in a statement.
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