"SALT LAKE CITY — Facing opposition from six states that rely on the Colorado River for water for their cities and farms, Utah asked the federal government to delay a fast-track approval process for building an underground pipeline that would transport billions of gallons of water to the southwest part of the state.
Utah cited the need to consider roughly 14,000 public comments on a draft environmental impact statement, released in June by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, for the Lake Powell pipeline project. The project would deliver water 140 miles (225 km) from Lake Powell in northern Arizona to the growing area surrounding St. George, Utah.
Those comments include a letter Sept. 8 from water officials in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming urging the U.S. government to halt the approval process. They warned of “multiyear litigation” over the project that could complicate talks over the future of the Colorado River, which serves 40 million people in the West."
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