Earlier this spring, Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill authorizing construction of a canal that would siphon water from neighboring Colorado, igniting a war of words between the two states' leaders. Nebraska's governor, Republican Pete Ricketts, says that the canal will "protect Nebraska's water rights for our kids, grandkids, and generations beyond." Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, calls the scheme a "canal to nowhere" that is "unlikely to ever be built."
The two states share rights to water from the South Platte River, and Republican politicians in Nebraska say that a new canal is necessary to guard the state's water supply from encroachment by its fast-growing neighbor to the west.
