President Donald Trump has tapped longtime water manager Ted Cooke to be the next commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The nomination, to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, attempts to fill a pivotal role at the top federal agency for Western rivers, reservoirs and dams.
If confirmed, Cooke will become the main federal official overseeing Colorado River matters. His nomination comes at a tense time for the river. The seven states that use its water appear deadlocked in closed-door negotiations about sharing the shrinking water supply in the future.
Cooke will likely try to push those state negotiators toward agreement about who should feel the pain of water cutbacks and when. If they can鈥檛 reach a deal ahead of a 2026 deadline, the federal government can step in and make those decisions itself.
Cooke has spent most of his lengthy career with the Central Arizona Project, which brings Colorado River water to the Phoenix area. He first joined the agency in 2003, according to his LinkedIn page. He climbed the ranks and served as CAP鈥檚 general manager from 2015 to 2023.
Water experts across the Colorado River basin, including some who have worked with him in the past, told 糖心vlog传媒 they regard Cooke as a qualified technical expert. Sharon Megdal, whose tenure on CAP鈥檚 board of directors overlapped with Cooke鈥檚 time as general manager, said she had 鈥済reat admiration鈥� for Cooke.
鈥淗e's thorough, he's deliberative, he looks for solutions, and boy, we need to find solutions right now,鈥� said Megdal, who now directs the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona. 鈥淢y observation of seeing him in action in tough situations shows that he'll keep working until a resolution is reached or a solution is achieved, and I think that's what we need now.鈥�
John Entsminger, Nevada鈥檚 top water negotiator, called Cooke鈥檚 appointment a 鈥済reat choice,鈥� and cited his work in shaping the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan. If confirmed, Cooke will likely be in the same negotiating rooms as Entsminger.
鈥淭here are times when [the Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner] has to level pretty realistic threats at everybody,鈥� Entsminger said. There's also times when they have to be the mediator鈥� I think Ted has both of those skills. I've seen him be pretty pointed, and I've seen him drive compromise.鈥�
The seven states working on the next set of rules for managing the Colorado River are currently split into two caucuses 鈥� the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico and the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada.
The appointment of Cooke, a longtime Arizonan, could upset some on the other side of that divide. The Central Arizona Project, his former employer, is generally among the first entities to lose water under any plan for cutbacks.
Eric Kuhn is the former general manager of the Colorado River District. The taxpayer-funded agency was founded to keep water flowing to the cities and farms of Western Colorado. He said Cooke is qualified, but added "the nomination of someone from Arizona is interesting at a time when the Lower Division and the Upper Division states are far off."
鈥淚 assume that he would recuse himself from decisions that could affect the CAP - which is just about any decision in the basin,鈥� Kuhn wrote to 糖心vlog传媒. 鈥淣one the less, his nomination is a plus for Arizona and the Lower Division States.鈥�
Negotiators from Colorado and New Mexico declined to comment, and negotiators from Wyoming and Utah did not get back to 糖心vlog传媒 in time for publication. Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission and a former colleague of Cooke鈥檚, also declined to comment.
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by 糖心vlog传媒 and supported by the Walton Family Foundation.
