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A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 14 december 2018

Southwestern U.S. states get Jan. 31 deadline for drought deal

By KEN RITTER Burman characterized as a
Associated Press complex puzzle of agree-
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The ments.
head of the federal agen- Indian tribes also are in-
cy controlling the Colo- volved, and Burman on
rado River said Thursday Thursday announced pub-
the U.S. government will lication of a report called
impose unprecedented re- the Colorado River Basin
strictions on water supplies Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal
to the seven Southwestern Water Study . It charts wa-
U.S. states that depend on ter claims and use by tribes
the river unless everyone that hold rights to divert al-
agrees by Jan. 31 on a plan most 20 percent of the wa-
to deal with an expected ter in the river.
shortage in 2020. A drought-shortage decla-
Water users from Arizona, ration next year would cut
California, Colorado, Ne- 11.4 percent of Arizona’s
vada, New Mexico, Utah usual river water alloca-
and Wyoming should have tion beginning in 2020, and
had a pact to sign at an 4.3 percent of Nevada’s
annual water users’ confer- share. That amount of wa-
ence this week in Las Ve- In this Oct. 14, 2015, file photo, a riverboat glides through Lake Mead on the Colorado River at ter, combined, would serve
gas, Bureau of Reclama- Hoover Dam near Boulder City, Nev. more than 625,000 homes.
tion Commissioner Brenda Associated Press California would voluntarily
Burman said. holdouts. power and meter water re- from the river’s two larg- reduce its Colorado River
They didn’t. However, a “Close isn’t ‘done,’ “ she leases. It provides drinking est reservoirs, Lake Powell use by about 6 percent.
flurry of approvals in sev- told a standing-room water to 40 million people behind the Glen Canyon Arizona gained approvals
eral states in recent weeks crowd at the Colorado Riv- and cities including Los An- Dam on the Arizona-Utah for conservation, mitiga-
signaled urgency and set a er Water Users Association geles, San Diego, Denver, state line and Lake Mead tion and payment plans
stage for an overall agree- conference at a Las Vegas Phoenix and Las Vegas. It behind Hoover Dam just from its Department of Wa-
ment to use less water from Strip resort. “Only ‘done’ irrigates crops in wide ar- east of Las Vegas. ter Resources and the key
a river beset by drought will protect this basin.” eas once deemed as re- Lake Powell is currently at Central Arizona Project ir-
and locked into promises The river that carries winter claimed desert in the U.S. 43 percent capacity; Lake rigation district. Unlike the
to deliver more water than snowmelt from the Rocky and Mexico. Mead at 38 percent. other states, it also needs
it takes in. Mountains to the Gulf of The keys to contingency To date, entities including state Legislature approv-
Burman identified Cali- Mexico is plumbed with plans are voluntary agree- agricultural districts and al for water agreements.
fornia and Arizona as the dams to generate hydro- ments to use less water municipal suppliers in five Lawmakers convene in
than users are allocated states have reached what January.q

Lease sale in Alaska petroleum

reserve draws modest interest

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) the reserve west of Prud- land-use plan of the re-
— A federal sale of oil leas- hoe Bay. They say oil de- serve.
es in the National Petro- velopment will imperil cari- The petroleum reserve was
leum Reserve-Alaska has bou herds, polar bears and created in 1923 by Presi-
again drawn a modest re- ecologically significant dent Warren Harding as
sponse. wetlands used for breed- the Naval Petroleum Re-
The Bureau of Land Man- ing by migratory waterfowl serve and set aside as an
agement on Wednesday from around the world. emergency oil supply for
received 16 bids on 16 The bids ranged from the Navy. It covers 35,625
tracts covering 272 square $57,000 to $216,000 per square miles (92,269 sq. ki-
miles (705 sq. kilometers), lease and took in $1.13 mil- lometers), about the size of
the Alaska Journal of Com- lion. Half will go to the state Indiana.
merce reported . of Alaska through revenue Former Interior Secretary
The BLM had offered 254 sharing. Most leases sold Ken Salazar in 2013 an-
tracts on more than 4,375 are near areas that Cono- nounced a management
square miles (11,330 sq. ki- coPhillips is exploring and plan that split the reserve’s
lometers). developing. acreage roughly in half
Federal officials said the Assistant Interior Secretary between conservation ar-
modest bidding could be Joe Balash in a call with eas and land available for
attributed to the lack of ac- reporters said the 2018 re- petroleum development.
cess to the most prospec- sults were encouraging. Salazar said oil compa-
tive areas. BLM received The lack of bidding, he nies would have access to
seven bids in a 2017 lease said, compared with more nearly three-fourths of the
sale. active bidding on nearby estimated economically
Environmental groups op- state lands, underscores recoverable oil in the re-
pose expanded drilling in the need to review the serve. q