These days, there’s a lot that divides the Colorado delegation along party lines. But one thing they’re all in agreement on is the need for the federal government to release about $140 million it’s holding onto for 15 water projects across the state.
“We ask you to move forward with obligating the remaining $140 million worth of Bucket 2 projects in Colorado – not just for the benefit of our state, but for the resilience of the entire Colorado River Basin,” urges the delegation letter led by Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper and Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd.
In the final days of the Biden Administration, 17 projects in the state, including the Shoshone Project in Glenwood Canyon, were awarded federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act to mitigate the impacts of drought.
But only two of the projects have received the so-called “Bucket 2” funding, which comes through the Bureau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado River Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation program.
“Each of Colorado’s Bucket 2 projects deliver water supply security in ways that make sense for our state. Every project was the result of thoughtful collaboration amongst regional partners and every project provides multiple benefits,” wrote Hickenlooper, Hurd, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Reps. Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen, Lauren Boebert, Diana DeGette and Jeff Crow. “With the headwaters of the Colorado River originating in our state, resilience in Colorado means resilience for the whole basin. We stand ready to work with you on building the West’s drought resilience, and ask that you help us do so by fully funding Colorado’s Bucket 2 projects.”
A spokesperson with the Department of the Interior told CPR News the Bucket 2 project funding is “undergoing an inventory and further assessment by the Department to ensure alignment with the priorities of the current Administration and to understand how particular projects might relate to, or contribute to, an anticipated seven state agreement on the future Colorado River operating guidelines that we hope to achieve with the states this year.”
Among the awards was $40 million to purchase the Shoshone water rights from Xcel Energy and transfer them to the Colorado River District. The other projects deal with watershed restoration, restoring or improving habitats, improving wetlands and improving water health.
As the letter points out, Congress allocated $4 billion in Biden’s signature climate, tax and health care law to deal with the ongoing drought in the Colorado River Basin.
The Bucket 2 funding was awarded on January 17, but that was just the first step for money to be distributed to the projects. Typically, contracts or agreements have to be signed before the money is actually obligated and distributed.
Still, even if that had been completed before the change of administrations, one of Trump’s first executive orders paused all funding appropriated through the IRA.
Two Bucket 2 projects have received their funding. The Orchard Mesa Irrigation District received $10.5 million to improve water delivery, while another project was awarded $1.5 million for advanced metering technology in Orchard Mesa and the Grand Valley.
