The Biden administration has told Colorado River negotiators it no longer plans to issue its draft set of plans for managing the waterway in December, leaving the next major move in the battle over the West’s most important river to the next president. The federal plans for the waterway are of increasing importance since the seven states that share it are deadlocked over new rules to govern the river after 2026. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation had said for months that it intended to issue them as part of a draft environmental impact statement at the end of the year. But in recent weeks bureau officials have told states and water users that they will instead release only a list of reasonable options for governing the waterway, which would later be analyzed as part of the environmental impact statement.

Other Colorado River articles:

• The American Prospect: Lake Powell is doomed
• Las Vegas Review-Journal: A river runs through them: Laughlin, Mesquite strive to survive
• Newsweek: How Lake Mead’s water levels now compare to critically low levels