From the Arizona Daily Sun:
Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure has approved snowmaking with reclaimed wastewater at Arizona Snowbowl, setting the stage for a legal showdown with 13 American Indian tribes that hold the San Francisco Peaks sacred. The proposal gives the owners of Arizona Snowbowl permission to make snow on any part of the ski area’s 777 acres of Forest Service land, which accounts for about 1 percent of the San Francisco Peaks area. Flagstaff’s City Council has approved up to 1.5 million gallons of reclaimed wastewater per day to be pumped to the ski area. The artificial snow will be spread on an estimated 200 acres. …
“This is appalling to Arizona tribes,” said George Hardeen, spokesman for Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley. “It’s as great an affront as can be visited upon the native people short of termination.” Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. said in a statement he was “deeply disappointed.”