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 Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ac75967/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
Coal has long been the economic bedrock of the Navajo Nation, which owns deposits in Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico. Now, the tribe is asking the Trump administration to dramatically expand the life — and size — of an operational coal mine that could uproot the lives of some Navajo families. And their longtime homes — literally. -
So instead of Santa hand-delivering stockings of coal along with his team of reindeer, it’s NTEC — or the Navajo Transitional Energy Company — with its diesel-powered trucks trekking across the sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation. -
Coal is perhaps most closely associated with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — or Wyoming, the nation’s leading producer of the fossil fuel. But the coal-mining business was once thriving in northern Arizona as well, atop the Colorado Plateau. -
CRIT leaders say a new plan to share the Colorado River is being rushed by the Bureau of Reclamation. -
Bertram Tsavadawa is a member of the Hopi Tribe and offers tours of the reservation through his company, Ancient Pathways Tours; he’s been doing that for nearly 25 years.
![The Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8f96e94/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
