PHOENIX — Today, U.S. Representative Greg Stanton (D-Ariz) issued the following statement:
“Solving the Colorado River crisis for the long term demands a fair, workable, basin-wide solution where every state has skin in the game. What we got today is the opposite. Again and again, the federal government refuses to force the Upper Basin to put cuts on the table and entertains scenarios that would devastate Arizona. It is a total failure of leadership.
Making Arizona shoulder the burden of a shrinking Colorado River ignores our decades of leadership in water conservation, and it ignores our economic and national security importance. Arizona is now America's semiconductor capital. Hundreds of chipmakers and suppliers operate in the Phoenix metro area, building the cutting-edge chips required for everything from consumer electronics to the defense systems flown from our military bases.
As Mayor and now in Congress, I have worked to prepare Arizona to use less Colorado River water through strong investments in conservation and water recycling in urban and rural areas alike. My top priority is to keep the pain of these cuts as minimal as possible for Arizona families and businesses. I will work with state and federal negotiators to see the Lower Basin Proposal realized and restore some certainty before current guidelines expire. Arizona won’t compromise its legal rights to water without all seven states fairly sacrificing to ensure the future of the Colorado River.”