California

The Department of the Interior's final Environmental Impact Statement comes after years of stalled negotiations. What you think of it depends on which groups of states you stand with: The Upper Basin or the Lower Basin.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal announced Friday spares Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming from facing mandatory water cuts — for now.

The California law requires producers to both reduce plastic packaging use overall and ensure the recyclability of plastic. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown called the law "regulatory coercion."

“States that choose to sue their fellow basin states over Colorado River operations should not expect Congress to reward that decision with additional federal funding,” Sen. Mike Lee said during a river oversight hearing.

The three Western states say their proposal would save 3.2 million acre-feet of water through 2028. That’s enough water to serve more than 25 million people a year.

The Colorado River states are stuck in negotiations about sharing the river's water. Utah and its neighbors have proposed breaking the standstill with a mediator.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo released a joint statement Saturday calling on Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico to offer more concessions.

Negotiators are focusing on a five-year agreement for sharing water from the shrinking river. Experts say that would provide some much-needed flexibility.

State negotiators entered the meeting at a years-long impasse over how water restrictions should be managed during dry years. They now have less than two weeks until a federal Feb. 14 deadline.

Water leaders in the U.S. West gathered this week in Las Vegas with a hefty task hanging over their heads — figuring out a long-term plan for sharing water from the Colorado River.

Since 2022, Los Angeles County has used a predictive AI model to help it identify who is at risk for homelessness. That has some Utah leaders, including incoming state homeless coordinator Tyler Clancy, intrigued.

Utah and the 6 states that share the river missed a federal Nov. 11 deadline to make progress on a new water agreement. Gov. Katie Hobbs said she has a hard time believing the Upper Basin states can't reduce water use.