Kempthorne expects smooth sailing

Barack Obama won the presidency with promises of change, but outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne expects no major shake-ups when it comes to federal water policy on the Colorado River.

At a meeting of water managers Wednesday in Las Vegas, Kempthorne praised the president-elect's selection of U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior.

Kempthorne said he has worked closely with Salazar over the past 21/2 years and the Democratic senator from Colorado clearly understands the complexities of Western water issues.

He expects Salazar to help foster the spirit of cooperation that has emerged in recent years among the seven states that share the Colorado River.

Kempthorne's remarks came during the final day of the Colorado River Water Users Association's annual conference at Caesars Palace.

After his speech, Kempthorne said responsible management of the river has little to do with which party controls the White House.

"I don't believe it's a partisan issue," he said.

Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy echoed Kempthorne's comments about Salazar. "He'll do a fabulous job," she said.

Mulroy went on to praise Kempthorne for steering negotiations among the seven Colorado River states without dictating what had to be done. "He was never one to overexert his power," she said.

As the nation's 50th interior secretary, Salazar will find "much work to be done" to guide the Colorado through drought, climate change and increased pressure from population growth, Kempthorne said.

In the process, he said, his successor will have to keep the seven states from backsliding into "costly litigation" and "fruitless acrimony."

Perhaps the biggest challenge Salazar will face concerns relations with Mexico, which is guaranteed by treaty a share of water from the Colorado.

Kempthorne said productive talks are under way with Mexico over a tangle of issues concerning water supply and the river's ecology but the discussions are still in their infancy.

The Las Vegas Valley gets 90 percent of its drinking water from the Colorado River, which supplies 25 million people from Wyoming to California.

Kempthorne received a standing ovation before and after Wednesday's speech.

Afterward, he passed out plaques to Mulroy and other representatives from the Colorado River states commemorating the shortage-sharing agreement signed last year during the Colorado River Water Users conference in Las Vegas.

The sweeping agreement lays out new rules for jointly operating the twin reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell during extended dry spells such as the one that has gripped the region since 2001.

Kempthorne called it the "most important agreement on the river since the original 1922 compact" that divided the Colorado among the seven states.

The people present that day, Kempthorne among them, "made history with the stroke of a pen," he said.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.