'Ski industry a huge hammer'

Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 20, 2007 at midnight

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The ski industry needs to lobby harder for federal policies taking aim at global warming, according to the environmental affairs chief at Aspen Skiing Co.

"The ski industry is a huge hammer, and we can have a much louder voice," said Aspen Skiing's Auden Schendler. "This is something bigger than ourselves that we need to use our political leverage to change."

Schendler said the closure of a ski area in the French Alps is part of "an alarming trend," but he also described skiing's future as "irrelevant," compared with the more widespread impact of global warming.

He advocates for drastic policy change such as former Vice President Al Gore's proposal to eliminate the payroll tax and replace it with a pollution tax, action that requires congressional legislation.

While lobbying Congress "is the most important thing the ski industry can do," Schendler said renewable-energy projects at home not only reduce emissions but also go a long way toward educating the movers and shakers who come to Aspen to ski.

Visitors to Aspen Highlands Ski Area, for instance, see what, until recently, had been the largest solar power system in the ski industry.

The company recently installed a solar photovoltaic array that is more than four times bigger at its Thunder River Lodge affordable housing complex in Carbondale.

kelleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5068

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