As the drought-stricken Colorado River faces record-low flows that could set off a sprawling water and power crisis across the West, the Trump administration is opening the federal cash spigot.

In recent weeks the Interior Department has contacted farm districts, cities, tribes and other water users in Arizona, California and Nevada looking to extend Biden administration contracts that paid out nearly $1.4 billion from Democrats’ signature climate law to entities that agreed to fallow fields, tighten conservation measures or otherwise forgo water deliveries.

At the same time, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered up a list of projects from the region’s seven governors to address the river’s long-term problems, for which the federal government could be a “potential cost-share partner.” The menu of proposals they delivered a week ago includes 85 projects totaling more than $50 billion — a price tag that far exceeds what Interior currently has in its coffers.