BREAKING NEWS: Tree-Sit Halts Snowbowl Pipeline Construction]

[dirty...@riseup.net]

**photos attached.*

*10:00 AM - Please contact Lowell Observatory (where the tree sit is near)
and respectfully urge them to allow tree-sit supporters onto the property
to check tree-sit knots to ensure protestor's safety.
Main phone: (928) 774-3358, in...@lowell.edu
Other Contacts: Mary DeMuth (928) 233-3235*


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, August 20, 2012

Contact: Ariana Sauer (602) 388-3726

Xander Vautrin@ (847) 334-7212

protec...@gmail.com





*Tree-Sit Halts Pipeline Construction*

*Protester Demands Clean Water and Clean Snow*



<http://protectthepeaks.org/breaking-news-tree-sit-halts-pipeline-construction/tree-low-res/>This
morning we erected a tree-sit to protect our community and our children
from the City of Flagstaff’s sanctioning and use of hazardous treated
sewage, which contains antibiotic resistant genes, in our public spaces.
The ropes securing this tree-sit stretch across the projected path of the
City of Flagstaff’s and Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort's treated sewage
effluent pipeline, currently under construction on Mars Hill near Thorpe
Park.



After years of construction delays, court challenges, and resistance from
community members, a 14-mile sewage pipeline that Snowbowl would like to
see carrying millions of gallons of treated sewage effluent yearly from the
City of Flagstaff to Snowbowl is near completion. Snowmaking is scheduled
to begin at the end of November, when a combination of pharmaceutical,
industrial, commercial, and household discharge will be sprayed from snow
machines onto the San Francisco Peaks.



“If they choose to continue construction, they must publicly account for my
life among the diversity of human and non-human beings their ecocide
threatens.” said James Kennedy, the NAU student who currently sits atop the
more than 75ft tall ponderosa pine tree. “For the purity of our water, for
the safety of our community, and for the health of a fragile alpine
ecosystem, we must halt this
pipeline!”<http://protectthepeaks.org/breaking-news-tree-sit-halts-pipeline-construction/treesitter-james-kennedy/>



Xander Vautrin, an on the ground supporter of the tree-sit believes “The
City of Flagstaff, the Forest Service, and the Snowbowl Corporation are
recklessly disregarding the safety of the greater public, of wildlife, our
water and our environment by refusing to consider the long-term impact of
exposure to wastewater. “



Recently published research conducted on treated sewage effluent in
Flagstaff has found antibiotic resistant bacteria *after* completion of the
treatment process. Though reduced by treatment, the bacteria “dramatically
rebounded at the point of use.”1 This pipeline constitutes an urgent public
health risk, as antibiotic resistance renders modern drugs ineffective
against dangerous bacterial infections. This threatens the life of those in
our community already at risk: the elderly, the sick, and the very young.



Additional research recently published in the Flagstaff Noise demonstrated
a clear danger to plant life irrigated with wastewater, illustrating a
serious threat to Groundsel, an endangered plant found only on the San
Francisco Peaks.



<http://protectthepeaks.org/breaking-news-tree-sit-halts-pipeline-construction/tree-sit-machine-anchor/>“All
water is connected. It is illogical and dangerous to believe that the
effects of antibiotics, contraceptive hormones, industrial contaminants,
and microbial pathogens —all found in Flagstaff’s treated sewage
effluent—will be limited to a few runs on Snowbowl or to the Lowell
Observatory grounds,” stated Derek Minnobloom another on-the-ground
supporter of the tree-sit.



“Our public officials have failed all of us - not only to ensure our public
safety, a clean healthy future for our water and our children - but also to
protect the rights of indigenous peoples whose land we’re on,” stated
Ariana Sauer, a volunteer with ProtectThePeaks.org and a tree-sit
supporter. “This action is in solidarity with the thirteen indigenous
nations who hold this mountain sacred.”



We invite those of you who believe in the safety and health of our
children, the sanctity of our environment, and the protection of public
water to demand that:

- The City of Flagstaff rescind the wastewater contract with Snowbowl!

- An immediate moratorium on the City of Flagstaff's use of treated sewage
effluent in public spaces where any person may come in contact with
reclaimed wastewater, until new research and technology is available to
mitigate long-term environmental & community health risks.

-The use of public water in this desert climate of Flagstaff with only a
projected 25-38 years of water left for people’s consumption, should be
cleaned and used for people to drink, not for a private corporation to make
a profit.

-President Obama fulfill campaign promises to protect human rights and
sacred sites.

City of Flagstaff Mayor & Council:
PHONE: (928) 779-7600
EMAIL: cou...@flagstaffaz.gov



— Protect People - Clean Water, Clean Snow! –

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*Note to Editor & Reporter:*

Interview with James Kennedy, NAU student and tree-sitter, available upon
request.

High resolution video and photos available


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