Snowmobiles vs. Serenity

Definitely, there’s something cool about riding a snowmobile at midwinter into Yellowstone National Park, right to the base of Old Faithful. It’s a party, a fraternity, a community of like-minded souls. But the hordes of snowmobiles are roaringly loud, they scare the wildlife and, worst of all, they are so polluting that park rangers who work near them have to wear respirator masks. They don’t belong in Yellowstone, any more than motorized all-terrain vehicles should blaze a loud trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or share the hiking paths into Yosemite’s high country.

The weight of science and public opinion is against snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks. Yet the issue just won’t stay dead.

A Clinton-era ban, reinstated by a federal judge in December, is off again because another federal judge ruled the opposite way. Now, in large part thanks to pressure by snowmobile makers and dealers, the decision goes to a federal appeals court and maybe even the Supreme Court. What a waste of judicial time.

Just before President Clinton left office, his administration ordered a phased-in prohibition on snowmobiles that would limit use to 490 a day this year and eliminate them entirely next winter. The order followed years of scientific study documenting the damage wrought by exhaust and noise on humans as well as park wildlife.

The ban enjoyed overwhelming public support. But it was overturned shortly after the Bush administration took office, siding with the snowmobilers, the dealers, rental agencies and other local tourist businesses.

In response to a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of Washington, D.C., in December reversed the Bush order as “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered the ban reimposed. Sullivan said the Bush administration’s decision was “completely politically driven,” something that’s been obvious all along.

But whoa! U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Brimmer of Cheyenne, Wyo., issued a temporary restraining order this month counter to Sullivan’s decision. The ban was off again, since the Department of the Interior chose -- no big surprise -- to follow Brimmer’s order and ignore Sullivan’s.

The government can provide all the assistance it wants to the snowmobile guides, dealers and rental companies near Yellowstone. But this relative handful of businesses should not be allowed to overrule a larger public benefit: the clarity, refuge and silence of the Yellowstone winter.