If traffic to this blog is an indicator, y’all are really interested in thoughtful independent analysis of the standard talking points in the Colorado River negotiations. Also, the work of my longtime collaborator Eric Kuhn (which is unsurprising, I’ve long been really interested in Eric’s work).

Three of the four most-read Inkstain posts this year were Eric’s (one of the three a double-byline piece with me):

1. No Simple Disputes, Eric’s explanation of the problems posed by the failure to define “consumptive use,” and how that failure weakens the Upper Basin’s argument about Lower Basin tributary use. (Eric’s version is wonky, I came back a day later to de-wonkify it for Inkstain readers, though Eric’s technical version got way more reads.)
2. The Compact Tripwire, a post Eric and I wrote together on the risk of total Upper Basin deliveries past Lee Ferry dropping below 82.5 million acre feet over a ten-year period, and the risk of Compact litigation that sets up.
3. What happens if there is no agreement on post-2026 Colorado River Management is Eric’s dive into the rules that would apply if we don’t have any agreement or federal intervention – Eric’s version of the “no action alternative.”

(The fourth was a weird riff on the Russian anarchist thinker from the late 1800s-early 1900s Peter Kropotkin, a pair of wire cutters, and a pedestrian alley behind the gas station by my house. It had a bit of a viral moment, though my efforts to think through the connection between Kropotkin and Colorado River governance failed.)