Colorado River Drought Contingency Plans In December 2017, Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman called on the seven Colorado River Basin States and water entitlement holders in the Lower Colorado Basin to develop Drought Contingency Plans (DCPs) to respond to ongoing historic drought conditions in the Basin and reduce the likelihood of Colorado River reservoirs – particularly Lake Powell and Lake Mead – further declining to critical elevations. All seven Colorado River Basin States have been working diligently throughout 2018 on a set of draft DCP agreements that would implement Drought Contingency Plans in the Upper and Lower Basins. The agreements include an Upper Colorado River Basin Drought Contingency Plan and a Lower Colorado River Basin Drought Contingency Plan.
The Upper and Lower Basin DCPs contain actions in addition to the provisions of the December 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead and are available here for download.
Updated Climate Plan Available Gov. John Hickenlooper released an updated edition of the Colorado Climate Plan, a statewide set of policy recommendations and actions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to increase Colorado’s level of preparedness. The revised Plan reflects advances in the discussion on how best to address climate change at the state level as well as progress since the release of the initial plan in 2014; and wraps in the objectives contained in Gov. Hickenlooper’s executive order of July 2017 that committed the state to additional climate action. The plan can be found HERE.
Public comments on the plan collected last fall and have been addressed and incorporated where appropriate. A summary of how those comments were addressed can be found HERE.
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