Sierra Club and tribes act to protect the Peaks from more development
Expansion and further development using treated sewage water to make snow and cutting down more trees for ski runs will threaten Flagstaff area water quality, the Sierra Club charged in a federal district court lawsuit announced June 23.
The Sierra Club is joining with the Navajo Nation, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Flagstaff Activist Network and the Center for Biological Diversity in legal action to stop the U.S. Forest Service from allowing the Arizona Snowbowl to expand its operations and extend its season using artificial snowmaking. The parties are also seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent tree cutting and other developments from starting while the court hears the lawsuit.
The Forest Service approved the Snowbowl proposal on June 8, rejecting numerous administrative appeals of its action.
"The water they'd use meets standards for irrigating farm land, not for people to drink," notes Paul Torrence, biochemist and member of the Sierra Club in Flagstaff. "There are chemicals in the water for which no safety standards have been set, and which may have harmful human impacts. Not only that, but delivering treated sewage water as snow to high elevation mountains changes the entire dynamic, causing potential harmful effects which neither the Forest Service nor the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality have considered."
In addition to water quality issues, the Sierra Club is concerned with potential soil erosion and loss of wildlife habitat from cutting thousands of aspen, ponderosa pine and spruce-fir trees to accommodate expanding the ski runs by 47 percent. The proposal also calls for building two new buildings, a 10 million gallon water tank for the treated wastewater near the top of a ski lift and building 14 miles of pipeline to bring in the city's treated sewage water.
The Forest Service has determined that the entire area around the San Francisco Peaks -- some 74,380 acres -- is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property. The Forest Service has identified 13 Native American tribes which hold the Peaks sacred.
"People should be worried about the unforeseen environmental effects that maybe caused by spraying waste water on a ecologically sensitive and sacred mountain." said Robert Tohe, Sierra Club environmental justice organizer based in Flagstaff. "There is mounting evidence of low levels of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater. As well, the mountain represents homes to the Holy People, and the mountain is prominent in the culture of all Southwest tribes. Wastewater on the Peaks is like desecrating a cathedral."
The lawsuit charges the Forest Service with violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other land and cultural protection laws. The suit was filed in federal District Court in Phoenix. Attorney for the clients is Howard Shanker with The Shanker Law Firm in Tempe.
The Sierra Club is one of the oldest grassroots conservation organizations in the country with nearly 13,000 members in Arizona
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