The sacred San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. Photo by Tyler finvold / Wikipedia
The Protect the Peaks coalition continues to fight the use of treated sewage in the sacred San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. Activists will hold a protest tomorrow in Flagstaff to call attention to the issue. The event coincides with the opening day of the Arizona Snowbowl, a privately-operated ski resort that uses reclaimed wastewater to make fake snow, a practice that desecrates the sacred mountain. "Snowbowl's expansion and furtherance of treated sewage snowmaking technology compounds the ongoing environmental, public health, and adverse cultural impacts to the San Francisco Peaks,” said Klee Benally, a member of the Navajo Nation who is among those fighting the use of the fake snow. "After more than a decade of court battles, including more than 50 arrests relating to protests to stop desecration, environmental degradation, and health threats, this struggle has been taken to the international arena by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission." The protest takes place at city hall in Flagstaff. The council there has approved a 20-year contract to supply the treated sewage to the Snowbowl. The contract is just one of the issues raised in a petition that the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, a tribal agency, filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Although the Snowbowl is privately operated, it falls within the Coconino National Forest. The Navajo Nation and other tribes lost a series of lawsuits aimed at preventing the U.S. Forest Service from allowing the use of the reclaimed water at the sacred site.
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