Overview
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has called the seven basin governors to a Friday meeting in Washington after negotiators failed to break the impasse in Salt Lake City.
- Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming say their governors will attend, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom will send Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot.
- Federal officials set a Feb. 14 target for a state-led agreement and circulated options that could impose deep cuts on Southern California and Arizona if talks fail.
- Lower- and upper-basin tensions remain sharp, with Arizona leaders pressing for Upper Basin reductions as Colorado’s attorney general and Arizona agencies prepare for potential litigation.
- Worsening hydrology compounds pressure, with Colorado River flows down roughly 20% over 25 years and Lake Mead and Lake Powell at about 34% and 27% of capacity, respectively.