[kaneui]

John McCain and other AZ politicians in Washington are now pressuring the U.S. Forest Service and Dept. of Agriculture to grant the Snowbowl permission to build their snowmaking facilities:


Snowbowl construction still in limbo
A cabinet deputy secretary has reopened talks with tribes and delayed issuing a work permit, despite pressure from Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and Sen. John McCain.

By CYNDY COLE
Arizona Daily Sun
November 08, 2009

Some members of Arizona's congressional delegation -- including U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff -- have asked: When is construction going to start at Snowbowl? The agency now in charge of that decision is not giving any clear answers. Instead, it says it is attempting to forge a compromise between tribes and ski area owners. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl first wrote the Department of Agriculture in June, asking for a timeline on when the agency would allow construction to start at Arizona Snowbowl. The Department of Agriculture, which includes the U.S. Forest Service, is now functionally in charge of the decision to allow or prohibit construction at Arizona Snowbowl. The authority comes after a federal appeals court denied tribes' religious complaints over plans approved by the Forest Service to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision. Managers at the Coconino National Forest are not taking any of the required next steps that would allow construction to start at Snowbowl, saying they are in a holding pattern on the issue until they receive word from Washington on what to do.

'APPRECIATE THE COMPLEXITY'

In response to the June letter, the senators received an apparently noncommittal response from Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan in August, with no proposed timeline or permission. "I have reviewed this matter with fellow policy leaders in the U.S. Department of Agriculture," she wrote. "In doing so, I have come to appreciate the complexity and array of issues associated with the Arizona Snowbowl's planned improvements." The letter continued: "In the interest of finding a successful outcome to the situation on the San Francisco Peaks, I have held discussions with representatives from the Arizona Snowbowl and the affected Tribes to explore opportunities to address their interests and resolve this situation in a mutually beneficial manner," she wrote. Merrigan is an environmental planner by education who was appointed earlier this year by President Obama. An advocate of organic farming, she formerly helped draft organic food labeling rules for the Agriculture Department.

The president of the Sierra Club has asked Merrigan to re-think approving snowmaking at Snowbowl. Without permission to proceed, Snowbowl may not be able to begin construction next spring in time for upgrades to be in place for the 2010 - 2011 ski season.

BAD PRECEDENT

McCain, Kyl and Kirkpatrick sent another letter on the same topic to the Agriculture Department on Oct. 8, stating that withdrawing federal approval for this project now would be bad for Snowbowl and for others, too. The letter gave a brief history of the court battle and said the last communication "leaves the unmistakable impression that the Department has no plan to release" the permission Snowbowl needs to proceed with construction. "Arizona Snowbowl has spent an estimated $5 million over eight years working through Forest Service procedures and the legal and administrative appeals process," read the letter signed by McCain, Kyl and Kirkpatrick. "Nevertheless, it appears that the Department is seeking to indefinitely delay or outright cancel the [project's approval], which would be disastrous for Arizona Snowbowl and would establish sweeping precedent for all other permittees on Federal lands who pursue the administrative process for project approvals." Sen. McCain issued a press release on the topic, calling on the agency to explain the delays. Kirkpatrick's office did not issue a press release.

UNELECTED BUREAUCRAT

McCain also questioned the deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service about Snowbowl repeatedly during an Oct. 28 House subcommittee hearing, becoming slightly more assertive in his questioning as the deputy chief responded that he would pass along McCain's concerns to his staff. "Well, I appreciate your nice words, and I really do," McCain said to Deputy Chief Joel Holtrop. "But how does anyone, much less an unelected bureaucrat -- in all due respect -- take it upon herself to say that here's a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which all the constitutional requirements were fulfilled, and she's not going to act? In other words, her words were, 'We have it under consideration.' What gives the deputy secretary of Agriculture that kind of authority, not to move forward after the issue has been resolved?" Merrigan's office did not grant an interview Thursday or Friday.