Former Forest Service official says some ski resorts may have acquired their water rights by ‘fraud and deception’

A recent flareup in the water war between the federal government and the ski industry took yet another turn last week, as a former Forest Service official weighed in and charged the industry with taking advantage of a lax regulatory environment under the Bush administration to try and acquire water rights that belong to the people of the United States with “fraud and deception.” The water rights issue surfaced publicly in November, when the National Ski Areas Association, represented by attorney Glenn Porzak, complained in Congress that the Forest Service was trying to “take” privately held water rights by revising a ski area permit condition that was adopted in 2004. Since then, the ski industry has threatened to sue the Forest Service over the new water rights clause. But Ed Ryberg, who headed the agency’s ski area program from 1992 to 2005, says it’s the other way around. According to Ryberg, the ski industry used its political connections in the Bush administration to lobby for regulatory changes that were subsequently implemented without public input or review under federal environmental laws. Those efforts extended beyond the water rights issue to other aspects of ski area operation, including the establishment of quasi-private, special access lift lines, advertising on chairlift safety bars and even real estate development schemes, as in the case of the proposed village at Wolf Creek...more

I believe this ole boy is a little bitter over the changed regulatory atmosphere during the Bush administration.  And why shouldn't he be?  My gawd, advertising on on chairlift safety bars, how much worse can it get?  Its nice to hear him speak out as it shows the mentality of the career bureaucrats in the land management agencies.  Multiply this across the West and you see what any administration has to deal with internally.