Hickenlooper, Bennet Welcome Release of $47 Million in Federal Funding for Four Colorado Projects to Address Colorado River Crisis

Follows a year and a half delay for Colorado's "Bucket 2" water projects

Unfrozen funding comes after Hickenlooper highlighted the pressing need for these projects in a Senate ENR Hearing with Secretary Burgum

Senators continue pushing to release additional $92M in funding for remaining Colorado projects

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet welcomed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) announcement of $47 million in federal funding for four projects in Colorado to combat the Colorado River crisis. Earlier this month, Hickenlooper urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee to release funding for Colorado's water projects, which provide resilience for the entire Colorado River system.

"This year's extremely poor snowpack has made the Colorado River crisis even more dire. We don't have time to stall and hope for a wet summer," said Hickenlooper. "We're relieved that this funding from our historic Inflation Reduction Act will continue to flow to help our communities manage the drought impacts on the Upper Basin. We won't let up until all of the obligated funding is released."

"Colorado communities, Tribal leaders, water users, and local advocates fought for years to secure these funds and keep critical projects moving forward," said Bennet. "The funding released will support the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project, drought-resilient infrastructure across the Southwest, and endangered species recovery efforts, which are all essential to Colorado's future. While this is an important step forward, the Administration must still release the full funding Congress approved, including for Shoshone. I'll keep pushing to make sure Colorado gets the certainty and resources we were promised."

The federal funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $4 billion to mitigate the impacts of drought, including activities to support environmental benefits and promote ecosystem and habitat restoration.

Last August, the senators and Representatives Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen, Lauren Boebert, Diana DeGette, and Jason Crow called on top officials at the Department of the Interior (DOI) and USBR to release $140 million in previously awarded federal funding for 15 Colorado projects to help fight the Colorado River crisis.

Six of the 17 projects have now been awarded a total of more than $59 million. The Shoshone Permanency Project and 10 other drought projects remain unfunded. The senators are continuing to push USBR to release the additional $92 million.

The four projects will receive $47 million in funding from the USBR's Upper Colorado River Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation program, referred to as "Bucket 2E."

Hickenlooper and Bennet fought for $8 billion for western water infrastructure, $10 billion for forests, $19 billion for agricultural conservation, and $4 billion for drought in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Details on the projects receiving B2E funding are below:

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