FEATURE ARTICLE

April 2008

To read this entire item of approximately 6000 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

Peace in Our Time on the Colorado River, at Least for the Duration—Secretary of the Interior Approves Far-Reaching Guidelines for the Colorado River

On December 13, 2007, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, following in the footsteps of his two immediate predecessors, used the annual Las Vegas meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association as the platform for a major announcement about the Colorado River. Whereas his predecessors more often than not could only use this platform to goad the seven Basin States towards agreement on some vexing, but limited, issue centered on the Colorado River, this time the Secretary was able to make a truly historic announcement—his approval of the much anticipated and far-reaching Interim Guidelines for the Operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead (Guidelines). As the Secretary put it, “for the first time since 1922, all seven Basin States have reached an agreement on the management of the Colorado River.”