here we go again..snowmobiles back in yellowstone

October 18, 2004

Federal judge repeals Clinton snowmobile ban

The latest chapter has opened in what has become a sort of mini-Iliad

for our times: the battle over snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand

Teton national parks. On Friday, a federal judge in Wyoming,

Clarence Brimmer, struck down the ban on snowmobiles in the parks put

in place toward the end of Clinton's second term. The ban, he wrote

in his opinion, was " the product of a prejudged, political decision

to ban snowmobiles from all the national parks. " Despite the fact

that there were more than 100,000 public comments on the ban, roughly

75 percent supporting it, Brimmer wrote that " the public was left out

of the process. " Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Wyoming Gov.

Dave Freudenthal (D) hailed the decision; enviros decried it. The

National Park Service was already in the process of creating new

rules governing snowmobiles in the parks, which would allow 720 a day

in Yellowstone and 140 a day in Grand Teton. The ruling is the

latest blow in what is shaping up as a judicial cage match between

Brimmer and Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington, D.C., who has

ruled in favor of the ban.

straight to the source: The Denver Post, Associated Press, Bob Moen,

15 Oct 2004

straight to the source: Rocky Mountain News, 16 Oct 2004

straight to the source: The New York Times, Felicity Barringer, 16 Oct 2004

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