BOULDER, Colorado — Negotiations over a new operating plan for the Colorado River are being hobbled by the federal government’s failure to take a more aggressive role in the discussions, said current and former state and federal officials Thursday.
The critiques came from a cadre of former water managers who took part in previous deals on the waterway under both Democratic and Republican administrations, speaking during the annual 45th Annual Colorado Law Conference on Natural Resources at the University of Colorado.
“The current process kind of feels like the conclave,” said Jim Lochhead, the former CEO of Denver Water and former executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, referring to the process of electing a new Catholic pope. “We’re waiting for the black smoke or the white smoke to come out of the seven-state negotiating meeting.”
Reflecting on negotiations to strike an earlier agreement over the waterway in 2007, Lochhead said, “It was clear the states were not the decision-makers.”
