Snowbowl issues...

My reasons for opposition to Snowbowl expansion and the use of reclaimed wastewater on the Peaks are many:

1) the continued Federal subsidy of private corporations and businesses on public land for the purposes of extraction (of which recreation is a form) is unsustainable and unfair.
2) the ski resort is in Arizona. inconstant precipitation patterns should be expected and accepted.
3) the ski resort is incised into an otherwise regular wilderness boundary.
4) the proposed expansion of the ski area (to the south facing aspects of the bowl area, which has got to be one of the stupidest ideas out there) will continue to degrade the wilderness characteristics of the mountain.
5) the proposed "tubing area" downslope from the Hart Prairie lifts will unreasonably expand the resort's footprint, all in an adolescent effort to compete with Wing Mountain concessionaires.
6) the use of reclaimed water for recreation is a waste of valuable resources, energy, and public monies.
7) the proposed mixture of reclaimed water and groundwater is an even more gross waste of valuable resources and public monies.
8) the proposed pipeline to pump water up to the ski area is an additional impact on, and concession of, wilderness to industry.
9) the proposed expansion of the ski area is an example of the latest chapter (recreation) in the West's cycle of boom and bust (the housing industry's another good one).
10) the proposed concessions to the tribes (the museum and "interpretive center") are jaundiced and offensive attempts at political correctness and pacification.
11) the tribes' own inconsistencies (ie. wastewater treatment facility on Hopi, casino on Navajo, helicopters and jetboats in Havasupai, etc.) are not an excuse.
12) the Peaks should be recognized and respected as sacred and life-sustaining not just by natives... Anglos drink water, depend on the rains the mountains make, and go there for (spiritual) refreshment too.
13) the current size of the ski area seems more sustainable (through both droughts and el nino years) than a larger version.
14) and if it closes, what's wrong with that? why shouldn't you have to work a little bit (ie. go uphill, too) if you want to slide back down