A senior official from the Forest Service told state legislators Thursday, Sept. 26, that the agency is pressing ahead with a new rule to tie permitting for ski areas to Forest Service control of water rights used for snowmaking and other ski-area functions.<\/p>\n
In Washington on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, introduced a bill to block the policy. He has bipartisan backing from Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, whose district includes some of Colorado\u2019s biggest ski areas.<\/p>\n
Back in Denver, Jim Pe\u00f1a, associate deputy chief of the Forest Service, tried to assure members of the Legislature\u2019s water committee that his agency isn\u2019t trying to take anyone\u2019s water. The Forest Service wants to make sure that water rights used for skiing aren\u2019t sold and converted to other uses, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustaining ski opportunities in the long-term is exactly our interest in developing a new ski water-right clause,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
But reaction to his testimony ranged from skeptical to hostile.<\/p>\n
Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, called the plan an illegal taking of private property.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to make sure the water stays there for that particular use, you can buy it,\u201d said Brophy, who is running for governor. \u201cWhat you can\u2019t do is take it from its rightful owner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legislators pressed Pe\u00f1a on why he thinks the Forest Service needs such a policy, when ski areas would be foolish to sell their water rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is trying to deal with a future that\u2019s unknown, and trying to mitigate a risk on our part,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
Although the controversy is limited to ski resorts, Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, raised a concern that some legislators voiced last spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this a blueprint for the next move, which would involve ranching and mining and other water uses?\u201d Coram said.<\/p>\n
A federal judge threw out the Forest Service\u2019s previous attempt at a ski water-rights policy in December, saying it was written without public input.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a said drafting of the new policy is nearly finished, and it soon will be put out for to the public for comment.<\/p>\n
As angry as state legislators may be, they probably will have to look to Tipton\u2019s bill in U.S. Congress for help. The Legislature\u2019s own legal department says in this case, federal law trumps state law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s authorized under federal law, the General Assembly is pretty powerless to do anything about that,\u201d said Tom Morris, a lawyer with the Office of Legislative Legal Services.<\/p>\n
The Legislature\u2019s water committee last week released a memo Morris wrote in February that said state lawmakers didn\u2019t have the authority to pass a bill telling the federal government how to handle water rights.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t stop Republicans from trying, but their bill sat on the calendar for weeks and died without action when the session ended in May. Democratic legislators said Harris Sherman, the now-retired U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture, called them personally and asked them to scuttle the bill.<\/p>\n