SKIING NEWS ITEM

Ski Resort Wants Additional Gallons from the Creek

MONDAY, 30 JULY 2007

As part of the expansion planned by the owners and operators of the Hunter Mountain Ski Resort, they are now petitioning for the approval of the Department of Environmental Conservation to let them use another 5.5 million gallons from the Schoharie Creek. The additional millions of gallons will be added to the resort’s existing reservoir near Deming Road.

The resort’s lawyer, Attorney Thomas West, is quick to defend that even if Hunter Mountain would divert more water from Schoharie, still it will not cause a big deal and won’t diminish the creek.

As for the Department of Environmental Conservation, the officers said that if they will approve the petition of Hunter Mountain, they will eventually bar the said resort from taking water when the creek drops too low.

"Even though we don't think that such limits are mandatory, we want to be good stewards of the environment," said West. "There is no demonstrable lasting impact from any of the water withdrawals that have been happening at the Hunter Mountain resort since the 1960s.”

According to the lawyer of the National Resources Defense Council, Eric Goldstein, they will first study the project further so they could come up with the best decision for the said petition.

"This raises plenty of questions that need answers,” says Atty. Goldstein. “The Schoharie Creek is a critical part of the Catskill Park ecosystem and one does not tamper with it lightly. Significant water withdrawal requires careful scrutiny."

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