For more than two years, the same seven people have been trying and failing to agree on a new plan for sharing water from the Colorado River. Now, there’s been a shakeup. For the first time in this current chapter of negotiations about the river’s future, a new person is joining that select group.
Tanya Trujillo was appointed to represent New Mexico in Colorado River negotiations, replacing Estevan Lopez.
Her appointment comes during the eleventh hour of Colorado River talks. Negotiators must agree on a new plan for sharing shrinking water supplies or risk a massive legal battle. The federal government told states that it would publish its own management plan “mid-to-late summer” this year. Such a move would likely trigger lawsuits.
Trujillo is self-described “lifelong New Mexican” and a Western water policy veteran, with more than two decades of experience at the state and federal levels. During the Biden administration, she served as the Assistant Secretary of Water and Science at the Department of the Interior, one of the highest-ranking federal roles in the Colorado River world.
Trujillo did not respond to KJZZ’s request for an interview.
She was appointed by Michelle Lujan Grisham, governor of New Mexico. A spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office said Trujillo’s appointment “reflects the governor's commitment to solving one of the most complicated and controversial water challenges in the West” but did not specify why she swapped out the state’s top water negotiator at such a late stage in talks.
Trujillo may be able to bring new direction and energy to talks that have been largely stalled since early 2024, when two groups of states submitted competing proposals for managing the river. The talks are held periodically, bringing together representatives from each of the seven states that use water from the Colorado River: Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Colorado River policy experts who follow the talks closely often hint at major interpersonal tensions in those negotiating rooms, but relatively little is public about the status of current negotiations besides the fact that they have yet to yield an agreement. State negotiators meet almost exclusively behind closed doors, and make occasional public statements about the progress of talks, despite calls for greater transparency.
Estevan Lopez, Trujillo’s predecessor, left the position after more than four years as New Mexico’s primary negotiator. Lopez had previously served as commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation from 2014 to 2017.
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