NPR carried At Arizona Snowbowl, a Battle Over Fake Snow on All Things Considered this evening. The story was essentially filler, but it managed to catch my attention. Local Indian tribes, the Navajo and Hopi among others, object to using reclaimed water to make snow. The analogy used by reporter Daniel Krocker was that using reclaimed water on reclaimed water on The San Francisco Peaks was the same as urinating in a church. I don't buy it.
The Arizona Snowbowl is a privately owned going concern operating on Federal Land. They are five years into the approval process, and are now facing a fight in the courts. They have have a ecologically friendly solution to a real business problem; which is how to offset the variance in annual snowfall with man made snow. The plan is to use reclaimed wastewater from Flagstaff.
The San Francisco Peaks are not part of an Indian reservation. The mountains are public property in the Federal trust. Federal environmental agencies have verified that the quality of reclaimed wastewater meets Federal drinking water standards and have granted permission to proceed. The is no risk to the environment.
The issue is one of special status based on religion. Since there is no science backing the tribe's position, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals should find in favor of the ski resort, and so should the Supreme Court. The Navajo's claims are rich with hyperbole:
The United States of America will commit genocide by allowing the desecration of the essence of our way of life.
Source: Indian Country Today - Tribes protest waste water snow on sacred mountain
"Genocide" for making snow on a ski range with reclaimed water? I think not.
Will reason win out? In this case I think so. Of course, If this had been a Christian holy place, the skiers would be looking for another place to ski.
Oddly enough, while looking into this story, I found this February 2006 entry siting the Navajo nation for releasing improperly treated wastewater into public rivers. The contaminated water eventually found its way into the Colorado river - a source for drinking water for... well me actually.
As early as January 2000, NTUA violated its pollutant discharge permits by exceeding the effluent limitations for biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, fecal coliform and/or E. coli, and residual chlorine.
Source: Region 9: News Releases - Navajo Nations agrees to improve water treatment at two plants
So the Navajo care about a mountain range more than the do the health and welfare of the community they live it. This sounds like hypocrisy to me.
You can read the story from the Navajo perspective at the Save the Peaks Coalition.
