Snowmaking gets green light

Jul 7, 2010 — The Arizona Daily Sun

Cyndy Cole

Jul. 3, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Barring further legal action, Arizona Snowbowl has permission to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks.

Clearance came at the cabinet level of the Obama administration Friday, with a letter from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack approving the project, following a signature by the local forest supervisor on Thursday.

"Providing the option for recovered-reclaimed water empowers the local community to make the final determination and bring resolution to this long standing issue," Vilsack wrote, adding statements apologetic to area tribes.

Opponents, who are already in court to block snowmaking with reclaimed water, plan to ask for a temporary restraining order to block construction, which could otherwise start mid-July with installation of pipeline and some logging for new ski trails.

"At the least, they should have had the courtesy of providing us prior notice instead of keeping it behind closed doors and issuing it on the afternoon of the Friday before the Fourth of July weekend," said Howard Shanker, an attorney representing the Save the Peaks Coalition and some local individuals suing to prevent snowmaking.

His case heads to court July 16, or the same week Snowbowl is currently cleared to begin construction.

Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky was elated.

"Obviously after nine years, we're thrilled that it looks like we might be going forward here," he said.

He plans to ask the Flagstaff City Council for use of potable water to make snow, in a bid to ease complaints of some area tribes.

"We'll go ahead and use reclaimed water if that's our only choice," Borowsky said.

Building will start this year, he said.

"We'll definitely be under construction in this season. At this late date, I'm not sure we'll be able to finish," he said.

Thirteen tribes hold the Peaks sacred, and for some, the mountains are the site of their people's creation.

No leader of any area tribe has publicly stated that the potable water would be less offensive to the sacred area of the San Francisco Peaks. But Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley told the Agriculture Department in a letter that potable water would be less objectionable to his and other tribes (see related story).

Shirley did not return a request for comment Friday.

"The Hopi Tribe still stands by their stance of no snowmaking of any kind with any type of water ... I'm sure tribes are disappointed with what has occurred," said Hopi Chairman Le Roy Shingoitewa.

The city of Flagstaff currently deposits unused reclaimed water (what's left over after watering golf courses, parks) in Picture Canyon and in the Rio de Flag, downstream of two wastewater treatment plants.

The plants take in sewage, some storm drain water, and what goes down the kitchen sink or shower drain.

After treatment to remove solid waste and living organisms, treated reclaimed water flows downstream from each of these plants, then goes underground to enter the Coconino Aquifer. The water, after chlorination, is potable and sutitable for household use.

The new scenario for tapping this "recovered-reclaimed" water doesn't come from wells near Foxglenn.

If approved by the City Council, Snowbowl would tie into the nearest large city water line in west Flagstaff.

The added costs of pumping such water up from underground over 20 years for such water could amount to about $11 million, for which Borowsky would accept federal funding by way of a grant to cover part of the pipeline to Snowbowl.

"The plan was that the USDA would issue a grant to the industrial development authority to pay for part of the pipeline. We come out even," Borowsky said.

The city gets its water from the Coconino Aquifer, Upper Lake Mary, and a little from the Inner Basin of the Peaks.

It's seeking to build a pipeline at a cost of some hundreds of millions of dollars to a ranch east of Flagstaff, across Hopi land, as a new water source, and to increase water rates for residents and local businesses.

"I think it's incredible that we should use our groundwater to support a profit-making corporation," said Dick Wilson, a plaintiff in the original 1970s lawsuit to prevent the ski area from becoming a larger commercial operation.

"I thought USDA was really intending to try to solve the concerns that tribes or the environmental community had regarding snowmaking with reclaimed water or potable water or any water source," said Andy Bessler, of the Sierra Club.

Current plaintiffs were likewise unhappy.

"We've lost over 15,000 acres of our beautiful ecological island known as the San Francisco Peaks that have burned due to the Schultz fire. The USDA is obviously out of touch with the community and our efforts to protect the San Francisco Peaks. Reclaimed wastewater contains harmful contaminants. That's a fact. As a community, we should not allow for our children and remaining unburned forests on the holy San Francisco Peaks to be a testing ground for the USDA and Snowbowl," said plaintiff Jeneda Benally, a member of the Save the Peaks Coalition.

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff, supported the measure.

"The stakeholders are putting in the time and effort it takes to find a consensus solution that truly meets the needs of our community. This permit gives us the control and the flexibility we need to move forward," Kirkpatrick said, according to a written statement. "We can find the right balance of encouraging growth, protecting our environment and respecting our tribal communities."

Vilsack pledged to do more in the future to protect areas tribes consider sacred.

"The process underscored our need to improve our procedures," he wrote. "Sites such as the San Francisco Peaks are special places in our country. They are important not only to Native American culture, but to our broader American community ... We need to examine the effectiveness of existing laws and regulations in ensuring a consistent level of sacred site protection that is more acceptable to tribes."

Cyndy Cole can be reached at 913-8607 or at ccole@azdailysun.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0065-46763789