The Snowbasin land exchange bill pending in Congress is becoming an issue in Democratic Rep. Grant Protzman's effort to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Robert Montgomery.
Protzman claims elected officials have been misled about the Snowbasin swap, and he is working with Save Our Snowbasin, a citizens' group fighting the proposed exchange.Montgomery favors the bill that would transfer 1,320 acres of public land to Snowbasin owner Earl Holding so he can develop it into an all-season resort.
"I think it would be a good thing for Weber County," Montgomery said. "It would increase the tourist opportunities for Weber County."
Montgomery and Protzman are both from North Ogden. Both voted for a legislative resolution favoring the land exchange this year.
But Protzman said his vote was based on information from resolution supporters that the exchange is needed for Snowbasin to host 2002 Olympics events and that environmental concerns had been worked out. He said he has since learned that information is wrong on both counts.
The resolution was sponsored by Sen. Nathan Tanner, R-Ogden; and co-sponsored by Montgomery.
"A lot of your local public officials have been given misinformation," Protzman told the Save Our Snowbasin group at its weekly meeting. "This was sold to us in the Legislature as something everybody supports."
"The more I learn about it, the more concerned I get," Protzman said. "I don't know how 1,800 units with septic tanks will affect the watershed. No one knows what it will do to the traffic."
Save Our Snowbasin members said they're not opposed to the resort hosting Olympic downhill ski races and a small land swap for the development of facilities at the base of the mountain to accommodate those events.
They object to the much larger land swap because it would allow the construction of amenities not related to the Olympics like a golf course, hotels, restaurants and homes. They say such development will destroy valuable watershed and wildlife habitat.
But Montgomery said the exchange is needed for the Olympics. "We have to have the exchange for the developer to build those runs," he said.
Protzman said his main problem with the exchange is that it circumvents the process Congress has established for development of national forest land.
"It's an end run for one individual," Protzman said.