She has one big thing going for her, though: a $4 billion pot of money from Congress that was essential to clinching a short-term deal this spring to head off the near-term crisis. But she’s got a fine line to walk for the Biden administration, which is keenly aware of the political implications of federal dictates in swing states like Arizona.
Issued an ultimatum last summer, when reservoir levels were careening towards crisis points, and eventually put legal teeth behind her threat to intervene unilaterally. Presidential administrations of all stripes have preferred the states take the lead in negotiations over the river, but Touton, the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, hasn’t been afraid to wield federal power.
