Tens of millions of federal dollars will finally flow to an effort by a coalition of Western Slope governments to purchase some of the largest and most senior water rights on the Colorado River.
For more than a year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has withheld $40 million awarded to the for the purchase of the water rights attached to Xcel Energy’s aging Shoshone Power Plant in Glenwood Canyon. The release of the federal funding brings the total amount secured for the purchase to $97 million — just shy of the $99 million needed for the project.
For years, the river district — a taxpayer-funded agency based in Glenwood Springs that works to protect Western Slope water — has worked to purchase the rights from the utility. Its leaders want to ensure that, even in dry years, the billions of gallons of water the rights command continue to flow west through the canyon and to the communities, wildlife habitats and farms downstream.
The district and other Western Slope entities feared the certainty of the flows would be threatened if another purchaser — like a Front Range utility — were able to snag the rights first.
The purchase is a “once-in-a-generation” investment in securing Western Slope water supplies, said Andy Mueller, the general manager of the Colorado River District, in a news release Friday. The federal dollars will add to the $20 million contributed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the $37 million raised by the district from Western Slope governments, organizations and irrigators.
“This award is a major breakthrough in our coalition’s effort to permanently secure historic flows on the Colorado River,” he said.
The Bureau of Reclamation in January 2025 — during the final days of the Biden administration — awarded the money to the Colorado River District as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. After taking office, President Donald Trump froze much of the funding allocated under the Biden-era act.
Members of Colorado’s federal delegation from both sides of the aisle pushed the Trump administration to release the money. Mueller thanked Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents much of the Western Slope, as well as Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse, Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper for their work advocating for the funding.
“This is a major step forward for Western Colorado and an important step toward protecting one of the most critical water resources in our region,” Hurd said in a news release Friday announcing the release of the funding. “The Shoshone water rights are foundational to the long-term health of the Colorado River system and essential to the farmers, ranchers, municipalities, and communities that depend on reliable water supplies.”
The federal funding brings the Shoshone water rights deal — originally inked in 2023 — one step closer to completion. Xcel Energy still needs approval for the sale from Colorado’s public utility regulators, and the river district must go through the state’s water court process.
The Trump administration in already-awarded Inflation Reduction Act funding for four other water projects related to the shrinking and overallocated Colorado River.
Still yet to be funded are nine more projects previously awarded a combined $52 million from the act, according to Hickenlooper’s office.
