While President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team prep to regain the White House, critics have expressed concern about how they’ll handle water in the West. But a key Arizona tribal ally of President Joe Biden believes the incoming administration is ready for the task.
Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community shared his optimism at a sovereign-to-sovereign dialogue with Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Chairman Manuel Heart during the annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas on Friday.
“I’m not worried about the next administration,” Lewis said on stage, “as some have otherwise indicated. The Trump administration delivered [Drought Contingency Plan], as we all remember, and I remain hopeful that they will help us finish this journey that we’re on for those new guidelines.”
Those agreements guiding how the Colorado River is divvied up among seven states, Mexico and 30 tribes throughout the basin expire at the end of 2026.
Even though Trump has pledged to claw back spending from his predecessor’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Lewis is still confident that lawmakers will continue funding their needs across the Colorado River Basin. Both chambers of Congress will be controlled by Republicans.
“I'm also not worried about Congress stepping up,” he added, “and providing the new authority and funding that we may need to implement the kinds of ideas that we see are necessary.”
His Valley-based tribe tremendously benefited from the Biden administration’s historic water conservation and infrastructure investments, racking up about 15% of Inflation Reduction Act federal dollars spent across Indian Country.
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The State Historic Preservation Office hosted a first-of-its-kind daylong listening session in Phoenix on Wednesday. A dozen tribes shared their thoughts and concerns about cultural landscapes across the Grand Canyon State that they wish to protect. -
The Interior Department released hundreds of documents Monday from a two-week review in February. The records contain action plans for national monuments and mineral withdrawals across the U.S. to accelerate President Trump’s American energy agenda. -
Two days after a Phoenix hearing to consider the request, an Arizona federal judge granted a temporary injunction Friday to delay the land transfer of Oak Flat between the U.S. Forest Service and multinational mining company Resolution Copper. -
After California, Washington, Colorado and New Mexico, Arizona would become the fifth in the nation to implement an Indigenous alert system at the state level, if signed into law. -
Resolution Copper could get Oak Flat as early as June 16, but the Becket Fund remains hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh in on Apache Stronghold’s petition in July before its session ends. Until then, the Arizona district judge is supposed to make an injunction decision by no later than Wednesday, May 14.
