[at-l] Bush Opens Yellowstone to More Snowmobiles

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Bush Opens Yellowstone to More Snowmobiles
By J.R. Pegg WASHINGTON, DC, November 13, 2002 (ENS) -
The Bush administration has reversed a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and
Grand Teton National Parks, despite widespread support for the measure and 10
years of research detailing the negative impact from the machines on the
health of the parks and their employees. The outright ban is not needed, the
Bush administration argued, because daily limits on use of snowmobiles and
new technologies can adequately protect the parks. Environmentalists and some
members of Congress are furious with the new plan, which they believe ignores
both science and public opinion. "The Park Service, in its professional
judgment, made a decision that snowmobile use was inappropriate for the
national park and did not meet the goals of National Park Service legislation
and policy," said Kristin Brengel, campaign manager for the Wilderness
Society. "But this administration would rather cater to the industry and the
will of the industry, and increase snowmobile use in the park, rather than do
what is right for Yellowstone." Prior to proposing the original ban, which
was supposed to take effect this year, the U.S. National Park Service had
been studying the impacts of snowmobile use on park wildlife, air quality,
human health and visitor experience for 10 years. Their research, which
included 375 scientific studies and 22 public hearings, revealed that
snowmobile use was negatively affecting each of these factors. Under the new
plan, the Park Service will impose daily limits on snowmobiles in the parks
and on part of the highway that connects the two. Both parks are in
northwestern Wyoming and Yellowstone extends into Idaho and Montana.
Yellowstone was the first U.S. National Park, designated as such in 1872.
There will be no limits on snowmobiles until mid-March, but starting then,
the plan calls for a daily total of 1,100 snowmobiles to be allowed in the
parks. This figure is higher than the current average daily use of 840
snowmobiles. Of the 1,100 machines permitted in the park, only 550 would be
allowed to pass through the West Yellowstone entrance on any given day, a
restriction which has angered the snowmobile business owners in the town of
West Yellowstone. The shift from an outright ban to a limit that is higher
than the current average speaks to the influence the snowmobiling lobby has
with the Bush administration, according to Nevada's Democratic Senator Harry
Reid. "If you want straight talk on the Bush plan, you have to ask the lobby
that pumped over a half a million dollars in just one year into its campaign
to dictate the management of America's parks," Reid said in a statement.
Snowmobiles are restricted the 275 mile road system within Yellowstone
National Park The ban, slated to go into effect this year, was challenged by
the snowmobiling industry right from the start. Implementation had been
delayed by a lawsuit filed by the International Snowmobile Manufacturers
Association (ISMA) and the state of Wyoming after the rule was finalized in
2000. In June 2001, the Bush administration settled the suit by requiring the
Park Service to reexamine public comment and scientific review. The National
Park Service received some 360,000 comments during the comment period, a
record number for a park service rule. More than 80 percent of respondents
favored the ban on snowmobiles, a figure that advocates believe exposes the
administration's indifference to the public's view on the issue. The decision
is an "insult to the American people," according to Steven Bosak, director,
motorized use programs for the National Parks Conservation Association
(NPCA). "The administration is not only ignoring the vast majority of
Americans who want snowmobiles out of the park, it is folding to the
snowmobile industry itself," Bosak said. Some 75,000 snowmobiles now enter
Yellowstone each year, about 16 times the number of automobiles that journey
through the park. More than 2.7 million people visited Yellowstone in 2001.
Studies by the National Park Service's Air Resource Division have found that
snowmobiles contribute up to 68 percent of the park's annual carbon monoxide
emissions, and up to 90 percent of its hydrocarbon pollution. But snowmobile
proponents define the conflict as an issue of access to public lands. Terry
Manning, president of the Wyoming State Snowmobile Association, says,
"Snowmobilers merely want to preserve winter access to a very limited part of
these great National Parks. This is what we do out West in the wintertime. Of
course, the sport also contributes greatly to many livelihoods in this part
of the country as people from far and wide come to experience the unique
winter beauty of these parks." Industry representatives say some people are
ignoring the aspects of National Park Service research that justify
snowmobiling. Ed Klim, president of ISMA, whose members include Arctic Cat,
Inc., Bombardier Inc., Polaris Industries and Yamaha Motor Corporation, said
in April, that the "real agenda" of the "extreme wing of the environmental
movement" is to prohibit all forms of motorized recreation within the two
parks. "This latest study by the NPS shows that existing snowmobile use in
Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks has not violated any ambient clean air
standards," said Klim, referring to the 2002 draft Supplemental Environmental
Impact Study prepared by the National Park Service as part of the lawsuit
settlement. "What's more, it shows that the new technology snowmobiles reduce
emissions by 70 percent." Manning said, "I just wish someone from the
anti-recreation community would accept our invitation to take one of the new
technology sleds on a ride up to Old Faithful. I'm pretty sure they'd see
snowmobiling in a new light." Still, according to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), snowmobiles currently emit more than 220,000 tons of
hydrocarbons and 580,000 tons of carbon monoxide emissions each year into the
air across the United States. There is also evidence the pollution and noise
from snowmobiles is doing more than harming the ecology of the park. It is
putting park employees at risk. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, the federal government agency charged with safeguarding the
health of American workers, found that Yellowstone employees were exposed to
dangerous levels of noise, carbon monoxide and benzene. "A single snowmobile
can emit the same amount of pollution as 100 cars," said Senator Reid, who
added that the California Air Resources Board did a study that found Park
Service workers at Yellowstone were exposed to toxic air pollution at
concentrations 10 times higher than those along Los Angeles freeways. This
past winter, the government provided Park Service employees with respirators
and earplugs to mitigate the pollution and noise of the snowmobiles. It plans
to do the same this year. "You have the administration outfitting its own
employees with respirators and hearing devices and at the same time allowing
more snowmobiles in the park," Brengel said. "What is wrong with this
picture? They are admitting on one hand that these are polluting, dangerous
vehicles, but on the other hand saying that it is okay and letting more in."
The Bush plan does call for tighter restrictions on the type of snowmobiles
allowed in the parks. Starting next year, rented snowmobiles used in the
parks have to use four-stroke engines, which are quieter and less polluting
than the traditional two-stroke models. Private owners of the two-stroke
machines will be allowed to use them until the 2004-2005 winter season.
Proponents of snowmobiling in the parks do not seem overly concerned with
this requirement, as many are already using the newer machines, and the
industry has begun transitioning toward less polluting engines. In September,
the EPA issued pollution <A HREF="http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cleanrec.htm";>standards</A> for snowmobiles, calling for reductions of
hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions by 30 percent in 2006 with further
reductions in 2010 and 2012. Still, not everyone in the snowmobiling industry
is happy with the Bush administration's new plan, with some arguing that the
daily limit of 1,100 is too low. They point to the park's average weekend
figure of 1,650 snowmobiles a day and believe the new limit will hurt local
businesses. Cooperating agencies in and around Yellowstone are scheduled to
meet December 10 to discuss the Park Service proposal. A final version will
be released to the public for comment on in February 2003, with a decision
expected in early spring. Congressional efforts to counter the Bush plan will
continue unabated, according to a spokesman for Representative Rush Holt, a
Democrat from New Jersey. Last spring, Holt and Republican Representative
Christopher Shays of Connecticut, introduced the Yellowstone Protection Act,
which makes permanent the Clinton administration ban on snowmobiles in
Yellowstone and Grand Teton. "There is a lot of support for the bill, with
more than 100 cosponsors," said Holt spokesman Jim Kapsis. "The congressman
is upset and outraged by this decision, but he will keep fighting." The
Wilderness Society's Brengel agreed that the fight over snowmobiles in
Yellowstone is far from over, but warned that the Bush administration's plan
indicates its disregard for conservation. "Yellowstone is the crown jewel of
national parks and how it is treated reflects on how all national parks and
public lands will be treated in the future," Brengel said. "That the Bush
administration is going to overreach and increase snowmobile use in
Yellowstone National Park, one can only wonder what is coming next down the
pipe." The National Park Service Yellowstone website is at: <A HREF="http://www.nps.gov/yell/home.htm";>
http://www.nps.gov/yell/home.htm</A>