5 states in Colorado River Basin elect new governors. Will it impact negotiations?

SALT LAKE CITY — Five of the seven Colorado River Basin states elected new governors last week.

However, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox doesn't think it will impact negotiations as the seven states remain at an impasse over how the river's water is allocated.

"I don't feel like there will be major changes between the former governors and their successors. I don't think it changes things that way, but it does give us an opportunity to build new relationships, and we'll certainly work hard at that," the governor said during his monthly briefing with Utah reporters on Monday.

Cox was the only river basin governor not on the ballot this year. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs won her reelection; California (Xavier Becerra), Colorado (Phil Weiser), Nevada (Aaron Ford), New Mexico (Deb Haaland) and Wyoming (Eric Barlow) all elected new governors.

Cox and Barlow are the only two Republican governors of the bunch, while the rest are Democrats.

He already knew Barlow, Weiser, Becerra and Haaland — the latter two serving as the secretaries of health and human services and Interior, respectively, under the Biden administration. Cox said he reached out to Ford after his election win.

In addition to reaching out to the new governors, Utah will host a seminar for new governors next week.

The Colorado River accounts for approximately one-third of Utah's drinking water, according to state officials. They estimate that 60% of the state benefits from it altogether.

But after failing to reach an agreement earlier this year, the Bureau of Reclamation stepped in this summer with its own post-2026 plan for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which is to go into effect in January.

It called on the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada to mandatorily trim 1.25 million acre-feet of water annually over the next two years, while Utah and other Upper Colorado Basin states may voluntarily cut up to 200,000 acre-feet.

The plan also calls for adjustments after every few years to match the system's hydrology over the next decade.

However, that also sparked litigation.

Nevada filed a lawsuit against the federal government in August, calling its cuts "entirely unrealistic." Arizona has since joined that lawsuit, which could erase the federal plan.

Utah leaders have noted that a consensus agreement could also replace the document altogether. There have been no updates on the interstate negotiations, though, Cox added on Monday.

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