Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ski shit and die

Do corporations live in the real world?

This news item made me wonder. And those of you who like to ski and snowboard should sit up and take notice. Where else in the country do you suppose they’re trying to make snow from effluent?

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules for Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe in San Francisco Peaks Case

The Arizona Snowbowl resort wanted to expand a ski area into an alpine ecosystem on the San Francisco Peaks—hence the lawsuit from the Indian tribes.

But what they also wanted to do was make snow from treated sewage that would be piped in 15 miles from the Rio de Flag wastewater treatment plant and stored in a 10 million gallon storage pond. Just what I want near my ski resort or sacred site—a big lake of treated shitwater! Hey, kids, let’s go skate on frozen shit lake!

Some of the language in the decision makes me wonder how the judges could have written it with a straight face: “We conclude that the [tribes] have shown that the use of treated sewage effluent on the Peaks would impose a substantial burden on their exercise of religion,” the court said. “This showing is particularly strong for the Navajo and the Hopi.”

And then there’s this little tidbit (pun intended): The court also found that the Forest Service “neither reasonably discusses the risks posed by the possibility of human ingestion of artificial snow made from treated sewage effluent nor articulates why such discussion is unnecessary.”

It's one thing to spray effluent onto a field, where it can sink into the soil, mix with it, maybe fertilize it. But who wants to ski through powder made from this stuff?


posted by Price of Silence @ 9:59 AM

4 Comments:

At 7:29 PM, Blogger tooshel said...

From what I understand, the safety of the water isn't a concern . . . in fact, the very same tribe that doesn't want waist water used on the San Francisco peaks *does* use waist water on another mountain at Sun Rise. But I guess that mountain isn't sacred enough to be saved from the dirty water. Either that or they just don't want the competition.

 
At 8:24 PM, Blogger Price of Silence said...

Thanks for your comment, Sheldon, and for the information on the other mountain. There were 13 tribes involved in this case; which one uses waste water at Sun Rise?

Also, the court ruling seemed to think the Forest Service had not sufficiently investigated the safety of the "waste water as snow." I'm always skeptical when people say safety "isn't a concern." Just how much research has been done on people's exposure to waste water?

 
At 9:09 PM, Blogger ssas said...

yeah. we have treated waste water used here in Superior--on our school properties, even! Granted, we have a relatively new treatment plant, but there are still signs all over saying "Treated Waste Water. Do Not Drink." People let their dogs swim in the ponds and then let the dogs come in their house! eeeuuuuuuwwwww!

 
At 7:40 PM, Blogger Price of Silence said...

I don't think treated wastewater on lawns poses as much of a health hazard as treated wastewater made into snow. It's going to soak in and the soil will absorb any germs. But when you're skiing through it, there's more chance of ingesting anything not removed from the original waste stream.

Why am I talking this way?

 

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