Robin Hood law requires Aspen’s rich pay for outdoor water use

ASPEN – It’s OK to have heated driveways and outdoor spas in Aspen and unincorporated Pitkin County, but it’ll cost you. The city and county have what may be the world’s stiffest tax on the consumption of fossil fuels.

The 2BD year program is described as a Robin Hood-style tax by The Denver Post (Dec. 1), which is more formally called the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program. It works like this: The tax, up to $100,000, is proportional to how much energy is consumed by outdoor goodies like heated pools and snow-melting hot-water pipes under driveways. Homes larger than 5,000 square feet also are taxed. Some Aspen-area residents, including the EstE9e Lauder cosmetics family, have paid the full bill.

Altogether, $2 million has been collected for a fund that is dispersed to community and private projects, including solar heating for subsidized housing, energy-efficient appliances and small hydroelectric projects in the Roaring Fork River Valley.

One recipient, Paul Andersen, got a $1,000 grant to install solar panels at his 2,000-square-foot home about 23 miles from Aspen. “It gives me great pleasure knowing that I am benefiting from the excesses of the castles in Aspen that use untold amounts of energy for things like heated driveways and patios,” he said.

Heralded extreme ‘G Zones’ open to public at Aspen Highlands

ASPEN – The much-heralded “G Zones” in the Aspen Highlands Bowl have opened to the public, and they’re 70 acres that no terminal intermediate should ever set foot, ski or board in.

Getting there requires an 800-foot climb. And the terrain is so steep that it has to be boot-packed to reduce the potential for avalanches. The portion of the bowl that opened this year gets its name from green, the traditional color of ski wax used on snow least affected by the sun, explains The Aspen Times (Dec. 13).

Beds in 70-mattress flop house rented for $500 a month

WHISTLER, B.C. – Recently fire marshals in Whistler ordered that a single-family house be restored to just that use, with no more than 10 people. The house previously had 35 occupants, with mattresses set up to accommodate as many as 70.

Owners of the house appealed to the Supreme Court, while Whistler officials are seeking a permanent injunction to get the 24 beds in the attic removed because of the fire hazard. The attic was reached by a narrow, spiral staircase. A locked gate was at the bottom of the access stairs. Also, the attic had no windows, only floor hatches.

Cost of renting a bed was $680 a month (about $500 US). Utilities were included and according to one tenant, a travel writer from Britain, it was a pretty good deal. “I’ve been all over Europe and have been up the East Coast of the States. This place is better than virtually all the places I’ve stayed in the States,” said Paul Marshallsay.

Whistler officials told the Whistler Question (Dec. 12) that there were other such places.

Affordable housing was among the top issues in Whistler’s recent council elections.

Vail residents make forecasts for ski area’s 40th anniversary

VAIL – When the ski area opened 40 years ago, there was no Interstate 70, and the economy in the Vail area was dominated by mining and ranching. The population of the Eagle valley was no more than a few thousand.

The Vail Daily (Dec. 10) asked several people to look into the future, and although few seemed to grasp 40 years, many predictions of perhaps 20 years overlapped, namely:

n Interstate 70 will have to soon be replaced by some form of transportation other than cars. Eagle County Regional Airport will grow in importance. One of those polled, long-time ski industry executive Jerry Jones, predicted eventual construction of a heated highway across Cottonwood Pass, between Gypsum and Basalt. That would put the Eagle County airport within a relatively short drive from Aspen, and in turn the Aspen airport would become available only for private jets.

n Skiing will decline in importance in the valley’s economy, in part because of the redevelopment of Vail, the town, and in part because of creation of a convention center recently approved. One of those polled, developer Harry Frampton, sees the Vail Valley becoming renowned for its “learning economy.”

n The population will continue to grow, perhaps up to 90,000 in a valley now at about 35,000. The Frampton predicts bankruptcy of Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and their stores, now being erected near the base of Beaver Creek, being razed to make way for a Central Park. (Frampton strongly opposed that development).

Moab butcher’s meat free of hormones & antibiotics

MOAB – More people are actively seeking out meat that is free of hormones and antibiotics. In Moab, Rich Evans, proprietor of the Ol’ Geezer Meat Shop, offers just that.

He told The Telluride Watch (Dec. 3) that he gets his cows from local ranchers who have grazed them in the high mountains of the La Sals and San Juans. He tells the ranchers exactly what he wants, i.e. free of hormones and antibiotics. They do get some corn, mixed with barley and alfalfa, which results in less back fat than cattle from mass feedlots.

His hamburger costs much less than that sold by the local grocery store, although select cuts cost more. But he contends the meat is better, and a growing number of consumers would agree. But in addition to keeping the meat untainted by chemicals, the Ol’ Geezer ages his meat in more old-fashioned ways, so that the aging breaks down the meat naturally, making it more tender and bringing out the taste.

Wolf returned to Yellowstone area after wandering into Utah

JACKSON, WYO. – Federal wildlife officials returned a 2-year-old male wolf caught in a coyote trap in Utah, northwest of Park City, to Grand Teton National Park, much to the chagrin of Defenders of Wildlife.

The environmental group had wanted the wolf left in Utah, where it might have propagated with what is believed to be a female wolf, helping establish a satellite population in a state that hasn’t had a resident wolf population in a century, says The Park Record (Dec. 9) But federal wildlife officials say that they are only legally allowed to be concerned with recovery of wolves in the Yellowstone region that straddles Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, says The Jackson Hole News & Guide (Dec. 7).

Fertilizer use will be regulated in effort to clear up Lake Tahoe

LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. – Fertilizer often contains nutrients, such as phosphorous and nitrogen, that experts say fuel the growth of algae, contributing to the loss of the celebrated clarity of Lake Tahoe.

Because of that, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency wants anybody who has more than an acre of turf to track his or her use of fertilizer and submit those numbers to the agency, as golf courses are already required to do so. Businesses that sell such fertilizer also will be required to give brochures to customers, explaining the connection between fertilizer and the loss of lake clarity.

Mountain bike action plan being put together by Utah BLM

PARK CITY, UTAH – The Bureau of Land Management is assembling an action plan for how to deal with mountain bikes. It’s about time, say environmental groups, such as Save Our Canyons, a Salt Lake City-based group. But Gale Dick, president of the group, remains distrustful of what the BLM is going to come up with. He says it sounds like the BLM will let the mountain bike industry regulate itself, reports The Park City Record (Dec. 4).

Fire code drawing fire about roof requirement

BLAINE COUNTY, IDAHO – It could be said that a provision of the 2000 International Fire Code is drawing, well, fire. The amendment requires all new or remodeled houses over 3,000 square feet to have Class A roof structures, which use less flammable materials but, according to one builder, raises roofing costs by 35 percent.

Fire officials defend the amendment as necessary in a place where so many homes border the wildfire-prone public lands. Most houses, they say, have flammable shake roofs or metal roofs that can too easily transfer heat to the structure below. And that, they add, puts firefighters in danger of falling through the roof.

County Commissioner Sarah Michael also distrusts a provision that would require that newly installed roofs be meet snow-load codes. She suggested that those in older homes be allowed to shovel the roofs, reports the Idaho Mountain Express (Dec. 4).

-compiled by Allen Best