MEDIA ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Emily McCormack
emccormack@cbmr.com
970-331-6145
CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT FILES REPLY BRIEF:
QUESTIONS DOCUMENTS WITHHELD BY FOREST SERVICE
CBMR continues to push for NEPA review for Snodgrass and addresses newly discovered documents not provided by the Forest Service until after the original appeal was filed
MT. CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Mar. 29, 2010 – On March 25, 2010, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) filed a reply brief in support of its ongoing appeal of Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forest Supervisor Charles Richmond’s November 2009 decision to reject the resort’s proposed expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain, without conducting the required public review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In addition, attached to the reply are documents that the Forest Service failed to provide to CBMR, or the public, until months after the November decision. These documents call into question the Forest Supervisor’s rationale for rejection of the proposed Snodgrass Mountain expansion project.
During a four-year “pre-NEPA” review process, the Forest Service communicated to CBMR and the public repeatedly that if CBMR addressed two threshold questions – geologic suitability and public support – it would commence a public review under NEPA. Forest Supervisor Richmond communicated to CBMR in writing in January 2009 that those questions had been addressed.
The previously undisclosed Forest Service documents reveal Richmond made the decision that CBMR has a valid need to expand, that each threshold issue had been resolved, and that he had decided to begin the NEPA process. Richmond sent his decision to the Forest Service Regional Office in Lakewood, Colo. for approval in July 2009.
Richmond abruptly reversed his decision in November 2009, citing a previously nonexistent test. Based upon this new set of criteria, Richmond made the circular decision that CBMR’s proposal should not be given a public review because CBMR had not resolved issues before entering the NEPA process – a process designed to address those very issues. This decision was made in private without public input or involvement.
Richmond did not raise any of these new issues to CBMR prior to the November decision. They are issues – such as boundary management, avalanche safety, mountain access, and off-site impacts – that exist and are addressed for every ski area expansion project in Colorado via the NEPA process. The Forest Service is not being equitable in its ski area expansion review process and is treating CBMR’s request differently.
CBMR continues to have serious questions about how the November decision was made. CBMR has separately appealed the Forest Service Regional Office’s refusal to disclose relevant documents as required by the Freedom of Information Act.
Due to concerns about the involvement of Regional Forester Rick Cables in the November decision, CBMR’s appeal has been assigned to Jim Peña, the Deputy Regional Forester for the Pacific Southwest Region in Vallejo, Calif. CBMR representatives will travel to California to make an oral presentation to Peña on April 2, 2010.
CBMR has asked Peña to order a public and objective NEPA review of CMBR’s proposal. CBMR has not asked Peña to authorize the development of Snodgrass Mountain.
Following the oral presentation Peña will have the responsibility to decide the future of the ski resort that is the heart of a Colorado mountain valley whose economy is bound to skiing on Forest Service lands. Peña is required by applicable regulations to make a decision that is “fair and deliberate.”
Background Detail & Timeline:
On December 18, 2009, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) filed an appeal with the U.S. Forest Service disputing the agency’s November 2009 decision to reject the resort’s proposed expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain without conducting a public review under NEPA. In its appeal CBMR asked the Forest Service to initiate a public and objective NEPA process for Snodgrass.
On March 4, 2010, CBMR received a response to its appeal from GMUG Forest Supervisor Richmond. The response is not the Forest Service’s decision on the appeal; it is the GMUG’s reply to specific points raised in the appeal.
The reply filed by CBMR on March 25, 2010 is the last document filed in the appeal and will be considered by the Forest Service in resolving the appeal. The final appeal decision is expected around May 2010.
The proposed Snodgrass Mountain expansion would increase the amount of intermediate and advanced terrain at CBMR with 276 acres of skiing served by three lifts, a beginner carpet, and a connector Gondola from Crested Butte Mountain. Snodgrass Mountain is located adjacent to Crested Butte Mountain.
For more information about the proposed Snodgrass Mountain expansion visit http://www.snodgrassfacts.com.
