Snowbowl owner vows to pursue snowmaking

By: CYNDY COLE
Sun Staff Reporter

One way or another, Arizona Snowbowl plans to go ahead with snowmaking.

Either the Supreme Court will uphold the Forest Service permit to use recycled effluent, said Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky Monday.

Or Snowbowl will pump potable water from the company's private land in Fort Valley.

But Coconino County's top planning official said the cost of drilling a 3,000-foot-deep well and pumping water several miles uphill would be "prohibitive."

And activists vowed to oppose the use of a public right-of-way for any pipeline.

"We are definitely going forward with this," Borowsky said. "This ruling is definitely the wrong ruling and it has a major impact on federal land ... I think this decision is saying that if a Native American thinks it impacts his religion, then you're not allowed to do it."

But the decision on whether to appeal rests with Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure, who had yet to decide late Monday, and the Department of Justice.

"We need to review this decision ourselves," she said, raising questions about how two courts ruled so differently.

"When we started this, we thought it was a better environmental choice to use grade A reclaimed water than to drill a hole and use groundwater," he said. "Our alternative is to use groundwater. That is a definite alternative."

Borowski needs only to fill out some paperwork with the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources in order to access the water by well, the agency said.

Bill Towler, community development director for Coconino County, estimates Borowsky would have to drill deep to find a water source, probably more than 3,000 feet to reach the Red Wall Aquifer.
Noting only a handful of wells in the county access the Red Wall, Towler said the cost to pump an estimated 1.5 million gallons a day to cover the 250-acre site would be prohibitive. The ski area would use considerably less water to maintain the snowpack during the ski season.
" The well would be very deep and very expensive," said Towler. "The cost of the water would be prohibitive."

Opponents with Save the Peaks Coalition and Flagstaff Activist Network have vowed to oppose rights-of-way up the mountain for any such water pipeline.

CITY WON'T PROVIDE WATER

It is unlikely the city of Flagstaff would provide potable water for snowmaking, as the city does not allow the use in local golf courses or other recreational capacities.

Ron Doba, the city's utilities director, said the city has never studied providing Snowbowl with potable water and the developer never asked the city to consider it.

Doba cautioned that as the city is seriously considering piping potable water in east of the city to alleviate future water shortages, it would be unlikely that the city would sell millions of gallons to Snowbowl on an annual basis.
A phone survey of the Flagstaff City Council found strong resistance to the idea, with several members stating they would reject any plan to use potable water on the site.

Borowsky previously said he'd sell the ski area if he lost this round of the litigation.
He's changed his mind, he said, because of the precedent this case sets for all public lands. Other groups have approached him and asked him to pursue this case, he said, both for its legal significance and because others couldn't afford a court battle.

There were thousands of sacred sites identified nationwide in the earlier rounds of court testimony. Tribes could now try to control what recreation and other purposes public land is used for around each of these sites if this case stands, Borowsky argued.

Snowbowl has spent $4 million in environmental consulting and legal fees so far in an attempt to get an $8 million project approved, he said.

" If a tribe makes a claim," he said, "the real question is: Is anyone really going to bother to go to federal court to use a piece of property when this is what you're facing?"

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