January 2003
Bush Administration Seeks to Keep Snowmobiles in Yellowstone
The debate over whether snowmobiles should be allowed to remain in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks has resurfaced as the Bush Administration continues to ignore science and public opinion on this issue. Now, they have a proposal to allow an increased number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone.
After 10 years and the most exhaustive study ever undertaken in a national park, the National Park Service's best scientists, along with those at the Environmental Protection Agency, determined in 2000 that the best way to protect Yellowstone National Park was to remove snowmobiles from Yellowstone and adjoining Grand Teton National Park.
The Park Service received about 360,000 comments in its last round of public comments on the issue. Of those, 80 percent urged a snowmobile ban. In fact, in five public comment periods, Americans spoke loudly and unequivocally against snowmobiles in their park. When the Park Service said it was re-evaluating the snowmobile ban, it said it would consider new scientific and other data that might warrant changing the decision. So far, there are no new data warranting a change.
Yellowstone rangers will not only be equipped once again with respirators due to unhealthy air quality at the park's West Yellowstone entrance, many are also requesting hearing protection to prevent further hearing loss due to the snowmobile noise. That is an admission that snowmobiles are impacting air quality and creating a disturbance for visitors and wildlife alike.
If the Bush Administration is willing to turn the icon of America's natural wonders over to the small, politically connected snowmobile industry, what chance to we have to find solitude in far less-protected places like our national forests?
But that doesn't mean we have to sit still while this administration degrades our national treasures. Yellowstone's many supporters in Congress will push legislation this winter in Washington to do what the Park Service refused to do.
On December 3, 2002, employee and environmental organizations filed suit against the Bush Administration's November 18th ruling to maintain the current snowmobile policy in Yellowstone National Park. The petitioners included Pubic Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Fund for Animals, the Bluewater Network, and the Ecology Center.
Approximately 80,000 snowmobiles visit the nation's first national park each year, producing more air pollution than all of the automobiles used by the Park's three million annual visitors. The high carbon monoxide, benzene and formaldehyde emissions have led to long-standing complaints of nausea, headaches, dizziness, and hearing loss by employees. According to Chandra Rosenthal of PEER, "the Administration is sacrificing the health of the Yellowstone employees to pander the snowmobile industry."
In addition to health problems, concerns over the growing number of snowmobiles extend to noise pollution, water degradation, and impacts on wildlife. The lawsuit further addresses the Park Service's 2000 decision to phase-out snowmobiles in Yellowstone beginning this winter, a decision that was, despite the public's support of the measure, overturned by Bush in light of concerns expressed by snowmobile manufacturers.
For more information, visit the Yellowstone National Park website at www.nps.gov/yell/home.htm
Act now!
Join Winter Wildlands Alliance, cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and other supporters from around the country to Stand Up for Yellowstone on Saturday, February 15, 2003. Call (208) 344-2968 or visit www.winterwildlands.org for more information. Don't miss this opportunity to join fellow human-powered recreationists in telling the Bush administration, Congress, the National Park Service, and the media that visitors like you want to experience the silence and solitude of America's first national park.