Protestors chained themselves to 55 gallon drums filled with concrete to block construction of a controversial pipeline that would carry reclaimed sewage water from Flagstaff to the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort for the purpose of making artificial snow. The 10 protestors were arrested after a lengthy effort by local law enforcement personnel to cut the protestors free from the chains and concrete drums.
Unlike a previous arrest in which the protestors were all Native American, the action on Monday included Hispanic and white participants.
This is a follow up to The Little War for the Mountain which I wrote yesterday morning.
At issue is the building of a controversial pipeline that would carry reclaimed sewage from Flagstaff to the Snowbowl. The Snowbowl is located on a portion of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona. The ski resort is on public land and operates under an agreement with the US Forest Service.
The Peaks are considered sacred and have considerable religious significance to 13 Native American tribes in northern Arizona. To the tribes, the pumping of reclaimed sewage on the Peaks is the equivalent to defecating in a church, temple or synagogue. They object to the building of the pipeline, and to the clear-cutting of additional ski runs that the Snowbowl management anticipates will be needed from the increase in the number of skiers and snowboarders once the resort can make artificial snow.
Many environmentalists have objections to the pipeline, too. They point out that the process of reclaiming the sewage water does not remove the hormones and pharmaceuticals that are often present in residential waste water. They warn of the negative consequences of introducing those hormones and pharmaceuticals into the fragile alpine ecosystem of the Peaks.
Since neither the courts nor the Forest Service have blocked the pipeline construction, a determined and growing band of protestors has been peacefully resisting in an effort to bring the construction to a halt.
You can watch TV news coverage of the recent protest action here.
On a side note, one source tells me the editor of the local Flagstaff newspaper has told his staff he won't send a photographer to cover the resistance actions at Snowbowl unless they go to "the next level." Perhaps non-violence just doesn't sell newspapers anymore.