Indigenous Caravan Travels to San Francisco from AZ to Stop Snow Made with Reclaimed Sewer Water

Fate of Human Health Impacts To Be Decided in Legal Battle at 9th Circuit Court.

Outpouring of Support from CA Indigenous Communities, Concerned Parents, & Environmentalists To Demand Environmental Justice!


Who: Save the Peaks Coalition and Plaintiffs.

What: Press conference to follow court hearing at 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Intertribal Sunrise Ceremony & march to courthouse.

When: Monday, January 9, 2012
10:15 A.M. Press conference with the lawyer and litigants will be held directly after the hearing at the courthouse steps –
95 Seventh Street San Francisco, CA photo opportunity*
9:30 A.M. Court Hearing
9:00 A.M. Prayer Vigil photo opportunity*
8:30 A.M. March to 9th Circuit Court
from Yerba Buena Park to the James R. Browning US Courthouse - 9th Circuit; 95 Seventh Street; San Francisco, CA. photo opportunity*
7:00 A.M. Sunrise Gathering and Ceremony
at Yerba Buena Park at 4th and Howard in SF. photo opportunity*

Why: The San Francisco Peaks, a holy mountain near Flagstaff AZ, faces imminent danger of being used as a toxic recreation area exposing citizens to hazardous contaminants. The Save the Peaks Coalition vs. US Forest Service are in a legal battle to protect children from hazardous endocrine disruptors and pathogens. The San Francisco Peaks are a site Holy to 13 Southwestern Native Nations and they provide a habitat for threatened plants and animals.

The case argues that under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, the Forest Service failed to adequately consider the impacts associated with ingestion of snow made from reclaimed sewer water in its federally mandated environmental review process.

“It is deplorable that the United States Forest Service would allow known endocrine disruptors to come into contact with our our children,” said Berta Benally, a grandmother traveling to California to witness the hearing. "At one point DDT, BPA and asbestos were all considered safe. Years later, after many people suffered, we now sadly know that they created a health hazard.”

Background: In 2005 ,the Snowbowl Ski Resort and Coconino Forest Service’s expansion plan was approved for reclaimed sewage water from Flagstaff's Rio de Flag Sewage Plant for the use of snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort. Since May 2011, owners of Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort laid seven miles of wastewater pipeline and clear-cut over 50 acres of rare alpine forest, while the issue is still being contested in court.

For more information please call the Save the Peaks Coalition at 928-380-8014 or write to savethepeakscaravan [at] yahoo.com

Note to editors: Photos available upon request.
###Indigenous Caravan Travels to San Francisco from Arizona to Stop Snow Made with Reclaimed Sewage Effluent.