An Arizona ski area’s plan to use recycled wastewater to make snow on peaks held sacred by Southwestern Indian tribes violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Monday in San Francisco.
The court also said the Forest Service, which approved the plan for the Snowbowl ski area, did not fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act because it did not reasonably discuss risks posed by possible ingestion of man-made snow.
“This is a national wake-up call for those who will try to desecrate sacred mountains like the San Francisco Peaks,” said Robert Tohe, an organizer with the Sierra Club in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Attorneys for the Forest Service and the Snowbowl ski area, who could not be reached for comment Monday, have said if the religious claims prevailed, more than 550 tribes across the country could try to dictate the management of millions of acres of public lands, from the Grand Canyon to Mount Rushmore.
The Forest Service acknowledged the San Francisco Peaks in the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff are sacred to at least 13 federally recognized tribes, which believe the peaks are home to deities and have spiritual and medicinal powers. The Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai and other tribes believe they must protect the peaks from this kind of contamination, Judge William Fletcher wrote.
“Even if there is substantial threat that the Snowbowl will close entirely as a commercial ski area, we are not convinced that there is a compelling governmental interest in allowing the Snowbowl to make artificial snow from treated sewage effluent to avoid that result,” the court wrote. “We are struck by the obvious fact that the peaks are located in a desert.”
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
