Heinrich on Colorado River Negotiations: “What We Cannot Afford is Delay. The Basin Needs Compromise, Shared Sacrifice, Investment, and Leadership, and it Needs Them Now”

WASHINGTON - During a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to conduct oversight of the Colorado River Basin, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the Committee's Ranking Member, questioned Andrea Travnicek, Assistant Secretary of Water and Science at the Department of the Interior (DOI), and Tom Kiernan, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Rivers, on the Trump administration's plan to address drought across the Colorado River Basin states, and solutions Congress can pass to help mitigate the West's drought crisis.

VIDEO: Ranking Member Heinrich (D-N.M.) questions witnesses on the state of the Colorado River before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, June 10, 2026.

"The Colorado River is the backbone of water supply for millions of people, a cornerstone of Western agriculture and energy production, and a lifeline for tribal communities, fish, wildlife, and working landscapes across the basin in New Mexico. Every drop of water matters to our communities, our Tribes, our pueblos, our farms and ranches, and the rivers and wildlife that are important to us. To protect this resource, we need collaboration and solutions that benefit both people and ecosystems, and long-term investment grounded in today's hydrologic reality," Heinrich began, emphasizing the importance the Colorado River has to New Mexico.

"Without a seven-state agreement, the consequences are clear: more litigation, unplanned water shortages, economic disruption, and heightened risk to communities least able to absorb it. Delay carries its own consequences, and the basin can no longer afford to wait. What we cannot afford is delay. The basin needs compromise, shared sacrifice, investment, and leadership, and it needs them now. And I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today."

On Watershed Efforts in the Colorado River Basin

Heinrich asked Andrea Travnicek, Assistant Secretary of Water and Science at the DOI, about the Department's watershed efforts in the management of the Colorado River Basin, "Talk to me a little bit in your remaining time about how the Department is incorporating watershed restoration, forest health, the wildfire resistance, [and] the productivity side of the equation, as you're looking at the overall water management in the basin?"

Travnicek answered, "Yeah, wildfire health, ecosystem health, all extremely important to the basin, and I think that's where you have seen, right, not only over the last several years, but just recently this year too, the importance of putting funding towards that. Also working collaboratively on that, we know what those impacts of wildfire might do to our reservoirs, so making sure that we are having those discussions, figuring out what those projects might look like on the ground will also be important moving forward. At the same time, looking for those opportunities on the hard infrastructure too. So, again, it's going to take that holistic approach."

On Additional Funding to Combat Drought in the West

Heinrich continued his questioning, turning to Tom Kiernan, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Rivers, "Water users, Tribes, recreationists, agricultural producers, conservation groups don't always agree on Colorado River priorities, but I was struck by a letter that you sent the Chairman - that a number of groups sent the Chairman and myself and the Chair and Ranking Member over in the House - just because of how broad the signers on this are, we get a lot of these kind of letters, as you can imagine, in this Committee, but we don't usually get the diversity of interest calling on the Congress to fund roughly $2 billion a year in additional federal funding to address drought in the basin. I would ask unanimous consent to enter it into the record."

U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), Chairman of the Committee, responded, "Without objection."

Heinrich continued, "And to ask you [Kiernan] - how significant is this? And if we're able to produce this kind of funding in the Congress, how should we think about how to focus it, how to deal with the trade-offs, measure the efficiencies, and still recognize that Utah's approach to conservation, California's approach to conservation are going to be different?"

Kiernan answered, "Let me start with the letter. I think it's an exciting moment where the breadth of stakeholders throughout the basin, as you mentioned, whether it's from cattlemen to conservationists, water utility to ag, and everybody in between, came together, found common ground, built some trust, and is making to Congress and the administration a proposal. I think it's setting the stage for a coming together, and the proposal is for near-term drought mitigation of $2 billion. As you well know, and everybody has spoken to this, there is deep anxiety, uncertainty, stress in the watershed. $1.4 trillion economy, 40 million people counting on the Colorado River. That uncertainty is causing some of the challenge in reaching a durable long-term agreement that everybody says we need. So, the $2 billion for near-term drought mitigation is to help bridge across this uncertainty. Well, everybody's as anxious to be able to meet some of the near-term needs, so that we can create an environment to create a durable agreement. Now, this would go to a suite of activities, whether it's active forest management, forest restoration, floodplain connection, conservation, efficiency measures, a breadth of efforts, so that we can make some progress towards a more durable, resilient future."

Heinrich followed, "I think historically it's been fairly intuitive for a lot of members, the investments in hard infrastructure and plumbing effectively in the basin, but talk a little bit about the importance and role of the forest, watersheds, flood plains in managing the current hydrology that we see."

Kiernan answered, "First, let me say the built infrastructure, obviously extraordinarily important, but the natural infrastructure is also extraordinarily important. It is allowing, if you will, nature to work for us, and Mike alluded to this, when you've got wetlands or flood plains that are able to, I'll use a flood plain as example adjacent to river, the lowland that during higher water the water spreads out, slows down, sinks in, and is held there, and is then released throughout the summer in a very predictable way. So it's a natural storage system, so the natural systems work for us, help us in both retaining that water, releasing it in a measured way over time. They also, by being in the soil and obviously feeding some plant life, reduce just the straight-out evaporation. Some of the water also seeps down into the groundwater and comes back up lower in the basin, so again, this natural infrastructure is an extremely important tool in the toolbox, if you will. It's allowing nature to work for us, and so we would hope that the $2 billion part of it very much goes to this natural infrastructure that's so important, along with the built infrastructure, but the natural infrastructure is so important throughout the basin."

Heinrich followed, "So I wrote down a few things that I heard several times today to try and come up with some, some principles, you know, we heard about the need for strong federal leadership and a willingness to make tough decisions, but for the basin states themselves: share of sacrifice, live within the actual hydrology of the basin today, and for us here, don't fund litigation, do fund conservation, and try to have some transparency, so we make good investments in that conservation. Is there anything in that sort of list that any of you disagree with? It's a good start."

Mike Vickrey, a rancher from Green River Valley Cattlemen's Association, responded, "I think we need to really recognize that the upper basin, and even parts of the upper basin, are completely different than the lower basin, and they can't be managed the same. And when we try to put on a one size fits all, it is not going to work, and it will crush both systems fairly quickly. So, I would encourage you, as we look forward, and I think Andrea has done a great job of pushing that out there. Enjoy listening to her talk, and she's a strong leader there. So, I really would encourage that."

Heinrich answered, "Point well taken."

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