FLAGSTAFF, AZ -- Navajo lawmakers held off Thursday on a vote to secure an appraisal for a ski resort on a northern Arizona mountain the tribe considers sacred.
Tribal Council Delegate Raymond Maxx introduced the bill with the intent of stopping a plan to use reclaimed water to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks. But he said wording in the bill to purchase the Arizona Snowbowl outside Flagstaff drew concern from fellow delegates.
The Tribal Council voted 41-27 to refer the legislation to the Resources Committee for further review. Maxx said he and other co-sponsors plan to rework the measure and bring it before the council again as soon as Monday.
"Somewhat I'm disappointed, because all we wanted to get is a number, but it went in a different direction," he said.
The Navajo and other tribes lost a yearslong court battle earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court turned down their final appeal against using treated wastewater water to make snow. The tribes say the practice would desecrate the land and infringe on their religious beliefs.
The resort's owners plan to add snowmaking equipment next year, saying it is necessary to ensure the survival of the ski area that continually struggles with short seasons. The resort plans to add a fifth chair lift, spray man-made snow and clear about 100 acres of forest.
The Arizona Snowbowl Limited Partnership purchased the ski resort in 1992 for $4 million.
Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky said Wednesday that the resort isn't for sale. But he has an obligation as a general partner to present any valid offers to all partners for a vote.
Snowbowl general manager J.R. Murray said the resort would have no additional comment Thursday about the tribe's plans.
"Right now our focus is totally on the ski season and hoping for a good snow," he said.
Council Delegate Kee Allen Begay said putting a price tag on a sacred site is "nonsense" and he would not support the legislation.
"Our prayers, our beliefs, who we are doesn't amount to any value," he said. "We may have lost at the highest court in the United States, but does that stop us as Navajo, as a sovereign nation, from a continued fight to educate the people on how it is sacred to us?"
Maxx said he appreciated the debate. Other delegates saw a potential purchase as an investment, looked at it as a matter of principle or expressed concern that it would be too costly.
"Even though Navajo is very traditional, we still have individuals that have assimilated in the Western ways," he said. "So we try to be as one sometimes, but sometimes that doesn't happen."
