Gila River Indian Community moves ahead with Colorado River drought plan after clash with lawmaker

By Ian James | Arizona Republic

Arizona’s efforts to finish a Colorado River drought plan are moving forward after leaders of the Gila River Indian Community announced that they will proceed with their piece of the deal.

The community’s leader, Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, had threatened to pull out of the agreement if the Legislature didn’t drop a bill that he said would undermine the community’s water rights under a hard-fought settlement.

The dispute had pitted Lewis against House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who introduced the legislation on behalf of a group of farmers and ranchers. But on Tuesday, after a debate in a House committee, Bowers said he was pulling the bill.

On Friday, leaders of the Gila River Indian Community released a statement saying they had received “sufficient assurances” that the bill is dead and will not be reintroduced. They said they decided to move forward with plan after meetings with Republican House Speaker Pro Tem T.J. Shope, Democratic House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez and Sen. Lisa Otondo.

READ ON:

Share this!

Additional Articles

Top master-planned communities for 2024

By AZ Big Media Here are the Top 10 master-planned communities in Arizona, based on public voting for the 2024 edition of Ranking Arizona, the state’s biggest and most comprehensive business opinion poll. Ranking Arizona

Read More »
News Categories

Get Our Twice Weekly Newsletter!

* indicates required

Rose Law Group pc values “outrageous client service.” We pride ourselves on hyper-responsiveness to our clients’ needs and an extraordinary record of success in achieving our clients’ goals. We know we get results and our list of outstanding clients speaks to the quality of our work.

February 2019
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728