Putting Snowmobiles on Ice

For nearly three years, the Bush administration went through contortions trying to prove that snowmobiles were compatible with the winter environment in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Finally last week, a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., cut through the sham and restored a Clinton administration ban on the noisy, polluting machines.

The ruling is being challenged by the Wyoming state attorney general, the Snowmobile Manufacturers Assn. and a vehicle recreation advocacy group. The Bush administration is considering an appeal. If it stands, however, park service employees at entry gates can take off the respirators they’ve had to wear because the average snowmobile emits many times the overall pollution of a car engine.

The National Park Service imposed a ban that was to begin in 2001 after years of study and public comments. The public was overwhelmingly in favor of the ban. But the new administration overturned the rule by arguing that it was based on bad science. Snowmobiles were acceptable, it said, especially if riders were required to drive newer machines billed as quieter and cleaner.

In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had determined that the newer machines remained unacceptable for their noise and pollution. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said in his decision that “the prospect of the new technology is not ‘new’ ” and the overturning of the ban was “completely politically driven.” Sullivan held that snowmobiles threatened wildlife and the health of park employees and visitors. His order came hours before the start of the new snowmobile season.

The phase-out begins this year with a limit of 490 snowmobilers daily in Yellowstone and 50 in neighboring Grand Teton. The Bush levels would have been 950 in Yellowstone and 400 in Grand Teton. The total ban is to go into effect a year from now.

“This is just devastating people’s lives,” said an operator of a snowmobile rental company in West Yellowstone, Mont., the western portal to Old Faithful. If that is truly the case, the White House should encourage availability of low-cost loans and grants for such operators to find new lines of work.

Snowmobile enthusiasts can still roam over millions of acres of national forest adjacent to the two parks. There will still be snow-coach tours inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Skiers and snowshoers will be able to trek in peace. Life will go on, and be better for both the parks and most of the people who visit.