Coal is perhaps most closely associated with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — or Wyoming, the nation's leading producer of the fossil fuel. But the coal-mining business was once thriving in northern Arizona as well, atop the Colorado Plateau.

Western cattlemen are poised to lose almost all opportunity to comment on oil and gas development underneath their property.

Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming are not subject to mandatory reductions; instead, those states are setting up programs to voluntarily conserve water.

Officials say the fire, which has now burned more than 15,000 acres and is zero percent contained, was human caused. Nearly 90,000 people have been told to evacuate or prepare to leave.

The federal government will cut back on the amount of water for Arizona, California and Nevada after years of negotiations. They will hit cities in the Phoenix and Tucson areas the hardest.