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'-- on1596 952 ECOLOGY lAW QUARTERLY [VoL 28:903 Colorado River water interests represent billions of dollars worth of productive agriculture, business, industry, and the domestic needs of tens of millions of people. Their political power is evident from their unchallenged enjoyment of enormous federal subsidies - in the form of huge irrigation systems, massive dams, gigantic aqueducts, salinity control projects, and inexpensive power.297 The water projects themselves, manifestations of the Reclamation vision of 'making the desert bloom,' still enjoy great cultural legitimacy in the American West.298 The events surrounding the gSA demonstrate the extraordinary tenacity with which the Colorado's water interests will hold onto their rights, and grasp for more, even in the face of undeniable scarcity and determined attempts to restrict water use.299 Any effort to secure long-term water for the Delta will thus face significant opposition unless it can be made politically and economically acceptable to. existing stakeholders. With this in mind, we evaluate four recent proposals to .move water to the Delta. Ultimately, we conclude that voluntary, compensation- based solutions that do not challenge. the basic structure of the Law of the River offer the greatest potential for returning water to the Delta. A. Using Federal Law to Coerce Change: The pocfft.c Institute Proposal and Defenders of Wildlife v. Babbitt Environmental organizations have sought to. use .various federal environmental laws to challenge the existing allocations of Colorado River water and restore water to the Delta. Water law has traditiOnally been focused primarily on water rights, and has involved primarily issues of state law. As our discussion of the Law of the River demonstrates, however, federal law enjoys an ever-increasing role in water law and the administration of water rights - particularly with regard to interstate rivers like the Colorado. Similarly, federal environmental statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPAl, the Clean Water Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the Endangered Species Act 297. For an excellent discussion of the history of the Reclamation Era, dam and irrigation project construction, and federal subsidization of water projects, see REISNER, supra note 1. 298. See generally REISNER, supra note 1. 299. See discussion of the events leading to the Quantification settlement, supra notes 254 - 269 and accompanying text. Despite Secretary Babbitt's severe warnings that water use would be restricted, MWD, IID, and CVWD continued to jockey for position.