DENVER – The ski season is over and so is the Legislature’s latest effort to keep the U.S. Forest Service from claiming ski resorts’ water rights.

Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, wasn’t expecting much when she brought her water-rights bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday. But she made one last try, telling the committee that Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort is struggling with the Forest Service for access to its water rights.

“I remain convinced that the bill is the direction we should go,” she said.

It took less than three minutes for the panel to kill the bill on a 3-2 vote.

Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Commerce City, voted against the bill. He signed on to a letter that pledges the Legislature will continue to work on the issue, but he thinks the federal government must be the one to solve the problem.

House Bill 1028 would have forbidden the Forest Service from demanding resorts turn over their water rights to federal control as a condition for getting an operating permit. It was the second year in a row that the Legislature has turned down such a proposal.

The Forest Service has tried on and off over many years to get resorts around the nation to turn over their water rights in order to make sure the water is used only for skiing. In 2012, a federal judge in Denver overturned the Forest Service’s policy on ski water rights, and the agency has been promising to issue a new policy that takes into account public input. However, it has not been released.

jhanel@durangoherald.com