ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—There are twelve states and three conservation organizations arguing in the first case about global warming before the United States Supreme Court.
And then there is Aspen Skiing Company (ASC).
SkiCo, inarguably the ski industry leader in all things environmental, filed a friend-of-the-court amicus brief in the case that challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision in 2003 decision that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant. SkiCo, those states and conservation organizations are all arguing the EPA has clear authority under the Clean Air Act to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
“To be involved with a Supreme Court case that is of critical importance to the future of the planet—that’s exactly where we wan to be,” said ASC director of environmental affairs Auden Schendler. “This might be the most important action ASC has ever taken.”
Aspen Skiing Company is the only resort filing a brief. Outbound ASC chief executive officer Pat O’Donnell has planted the company, owned by the Crown family, at the heart of the global environmental debate.
Plaintiffs include 12 states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington), and several cities and conservation groups, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Other briefs came from former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Calpine and Entergy, two of the largest utilities in the United States.
The brief is the latest wrinkle in Aspen Skiing Company’s attempt to push the environmental envelope. In June 2006, for example, ASC committed the company to meeting 100 percent of its electric needs with the largest purchase of wind energy credits in the skiing industry at that time; Vail Resorts quickly followed suit. SkiCo also has the industry’s largest solar photovoltaic system.
“Through, energy and water efficiency, green development, waste management, recycling and alternative transportation,” according to the company, “Aspen Skiing Company’s goal is to lead the ski industry toward more sustainable practices and provide working models transferable to
any business.”
Auden might want to read this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
I agree that temps are rising. How much and what should be attempted to be done about it are another matter. Doctrine of preemptive caution can be another way of saying fascism…
Human beings (and the media) love eschatology (end of the world stuff). Thus, global warming Armageddon theory fulfills a basic human need, and it’s also a nice fear thing to build a power base on. I fear fascism more than I fear global warming. Seriously.
Remember when the biggest eco fear was, OH MY GOD, OUR LANDFILL IS FILLING UP, TIME TO RECYCLE OR ALL IS LOST?
Yawn.
Well, the eco crowd finally has an issue with traction and they’re going all out for money and power based on wacked out scientific predictions from people who can’t even tell us what the weather will be in 15 days. And I still haven’t gotten a good answer on how much less carbon the world needs to produce to reverse global warming, and how that translates to lifestyle and economic changes.
Meanwhile, everyone from ski film makers to politicians, and yes, the SkiCo, seem to revel in the eschatology. They say the end is near, stop sinning or you are lost, and by the way, give me power/money and I’ll solve the problem. Sounds familiar to me…
All I ask for is realism and logic.
Logic leads to inescapable conclusion that France and Japan figured out years ago. Atomic. Wind power can’t solve the problem. SkiCo should set a better example and build a small nuclear power plant that would supply the whole western slope with electricity and no CO2. Now that would make a difference. Anything else is green washing.
As for C02 being a pollutant, that’s a bit much. Anything is a pollutant in the right quantities. Even too much oxygen would be a pollutant, or too much sunlight. What’s next, are Auden and the SkiCo going to try and get human beings designated as a pollutant? Many enviros believe that to be true, though their talking points tend to leave out that unpleasant detail since it doesn’t work well for building a power base.
Auden might want to read this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
I agree that temps are rising. How much and what should be attempted to be done about it are another matter. Doctrine of preemptive caution can be another way of saying fascism…
Human beings (and the media) love eschatology (end of the world stuff). Thus, global warming Armageddon theory fulfills a basic human need, and it’s also a nice fear thing to build a power base on. I fear fascism more than I fear global warming. Seriously.
Remember when the biggest eco fear was, OH MY GOD, OUR LANDFILL IS FILLING UP, TIME TO RECYCLE OR ALL IS LOST?
Yawn.
Well, the eco crowd finally has an issue with traction and they’re going all out for money and power based on wacked out scientific predictions from people who can’t even tell us what the weather will be in 15 days. And I still haven’t gotten a good answer on how much less carbon the world needs to produce to reverse global warming, and how that translates to lifestyle and economic changes.
Meanwhile, everyone from ski film makers to politicians, and yes, the SkiCo, seem to revel in the eschatology. They say the end is near, stop sinning or you are lost, and by the way, give me power/money and I’ll solve the problem. Sounds familiar to me…
All I ask for is realism and logic.
Logic leads to inescapable conclusion that France and Japan figured out years ago. Atomic. Wind power can’t solve the problem. SkiCo should set a better example and build a small nuclear power plant that would supply the whole western slope with electricity and no CO2. Now that would make a difference. Anything else is green washing.
As for C02 being a pollutant, that’s a bit much. Anything is a pollutant in the right quantities. Even too much oxygen would be a pollutant, or too much sunlight. What’s next, are Auden and the SkiCo going to try and get human beings designated as a pollutant? Many enviros believe that to be true, though their talking points tend to leave out that unpleasant detail since it doesn’t work well for building a power base.
On January 1, 1980, me and my friend John played 9 holes at what was then Westbank Golf Course. I remember that day because that was the day I drove the green on the 9th hole, the longest hole on the course. It wasn’t that the sub-freezing temperatures made the ball sail farther. No, I drove that hole with the help of two kind bounces off a frozen lake (I won’t tell you how I putted). No matter how you stack it, 1980 was a mighty lean snow year, and it lead to all manner of dire prognostications and hand-wringing for the region.
In 1991 or ’92 or ’93—can’t remember now—we had the best snow year I can remember. The powder days on Hanging Valley Wall were many, and that Spring saw 4,000 cfs water levels on the Frying Pan well into June.
Yet another decade later, Colorado was into a bona fide drought, or at least that’s what all the experts told us…
Colorado’s climate is semiarid—that means Colorado is a region that receives 10 to 20 inches of rain per year.
Maybe the snow seemed deeper when I was a kid because I was shorter then.
I think that if you live in Colorado for any time, you begin to see your life in terms of the environment.
Today Michael timely tossed SkiCo’s August 31, 2006 amicus brief in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency on the table and invited calls. When a caller called Donnelly and the SkiCo disingenuous, Michael turned the environmental magnifying glass on the caller. The upshot? If you’re not an environmentalist, you have no business speaking an opinion about the environment. It’s just a hunch, but I suspect Michael never served in the U.S. armed forces. Is that a fair basis to negate his opinion about the War on Terror?
I’m not an environmentalist. What troubles me about environmentalism is what troubles atheists and agnostics about believers: Zealotry. Take the ELF, an “underground movement with no leadership, membership or official spokesperson,” that says:
“Any individuals who committed arson or any other illegal acts under the ELF name are individuals who choose to do so under the banner of ELF and do so only driven by their personal conscience.”
~http://www.earthliberationfront.com/
Chelsea Gerlach, an ELF member recently convicted for torching Vail’s Two Elk restaurant, says she acted out of “a deep sense of despair and anger at the deteriorating state of the global environment.”
Life’s too short. Keep recycling, but next time there’s no snow in on New Year’s Day, go golfing. Oh yea, and if you do, keep in mind that icy greens are very fast.
On January 1, 1980, me and my friend John played 9 holes at what was then Westbank Golf Course. I remember that day because that was the day I drove the green on the 9th hole, the longest hole on the course. It wasn’t that the sub-freezing temperatures made the ball sail farther. No, I drove that hole with the help of two kind bounces off a frozen lake (I won’t tell you how I putted). No matter how you stack it, 1980 was a mighty lean snow year, and it lead to all manner of dire prognostications and hand-wringing for the region.
In 1991 or ’92 or ’93—can’t remember now—we had the best snow year I can remember. The powder days on Hanging Valley Wall were many, and that Spring saw 4,000 cfs water levels on the Frying Pan well into June.
Yet another decade later, Colorado was into a bona fide drought, or at least that’s what all the experts told us…
Colorado’s climate is semiarid—that means Colorado is a region that receives 10 to 20 inches of rain per year.
Maybe the snow seemed deeper when I was a kid because I was shorter then.
I think that if you live in Colorado for any time, you begin to see your life in terms of the environment.
Today Michael timely tossed SkiCo’s August 31, 2006 amicus brief in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency on the table and invited calls. When a caller called Donnelly and the SkiCo disingenuous, Michael turned the environmental magnifying glass on the caller. The upshot? If you’re not an environmentalist, you have no business speaking an opinion about the environment. It’s just a hunch, but I suspect Michael never served in the U.S. armed forces. Is that a fair basis to negate his opinion about the War on Terror?
I’m not an environmentalist. What troubles me about environmentalism is what troubles atheists and agnostics about believers: Zealotry. Take the ELF, an “underground movement with no leadership, membership or official spokesperson,” that says:
“Any individuals who committed arson or any other illegal acts under the ELF name are individuals who choose to do so under the banner of ELF and do so only driven by their personal conscience.”
~http://www.earthliberationfront.com/
Chelsea Gerlach, an ELF member recently convicted for torching Vail’s Two Elk restaurant, says she acted out of “a deep sense of despair and anger at the deteriorating state of the global environment.”
Life’s too short. Keep recycling, but next time there’s no snow in on New Year’s Day, go golfing. Oh yea, and if you do, keep in mind that icy greens are very fast.