Click the link to read the article on the Cowboy State Daily website (Mark Heinz). Here’s an excerpt:
November 6, 2026
As Nevada and Arizona prepare for a federal court battle with the U.S. Department of the Interior over dwindling water supplies from the Colorado River, state officials are warning legislators that Wyoming could be impacted by the fight. State Engineer Brandon Gebhardt represents Wyoming on the Upper Colorado River Commission. On Friday in Casper, he told the Legislature’s Select Water Committee that the commission hadn’t yet decided whether the four Upper Basin states will intervene in the court battle.
Water committee co-chair Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said the potential effects of the federal court battle involving Nevada on Wyoming can’t be taken lightly.
“We could end up in a situation where a federal court in the state of Nevada could be taking over the (water) management. Really, the job of the Bureau of Reclamation,” she said.
Gebhardt was joined in updating the committee by Chris Brown, supervising attorney general for the water section in the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office. At one point, Lawley asked Brown if her assessment of the situation was accurate.
“Madame Chair, from my personal perspective, you are on target,” Brown responded.
Brown at one point suggested that tensions over the Colorado River could end up before the Supreme Court.
