Flagstaff Snowbowl water dispute back in court

A federal judge Tuesday postponed a request for an injunction against the Arizona Snowbowl to keep the Flagstaff ski area from starting construction on a pipeline that would carry reclaimed wastewater 15 miles from town to produce artificial snow. Judge Mary Murguia asked the resort and the Native Americans who brought suit to discuss whether they can reach agreement on when land clearing can begin. Injunctions are imposed only in emergency situations, and Snowbowl argued that there was hardly an emergency if there was no chance of actually making snow until November 2011. If necessary, Murguia will reconsider the issue Thursday. Snowbowl and its landlord, the U.S. Forest Service, have been locked in litigation with several tribes and environmental groups since 2006 over whether the resort can make snow at all, let alone from reclaimed wastewater. Snowbowl and the Forest Service won in District Court and in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and in June 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider that ruling. Attorney Howard Shanker, who represented the Navajo, Hopi and other tribes, immediately filed a new lawsuit zeroing in on whether the government had adequately analyzed the possible ill effects of ingesting artificial snow made from what he called "sewer water."...more