Rolling back a Clinton-era decision that would have banned snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks by the upcoming winter, the Bush administration plans to place no limits on snowmobiles until December 2003 and then to cap the number of snowmobiles at 1,100 per day. For the past decade, the parks have had an average of 840 snowmobiles per day during the winter, but as many as 1,650 per day during peak season. Under the plan, snowmobiles over time would be required to run on cleaner engines. Despite that mini-green concession, environmentalists aren’t clapping their hands. Charles Clusen of the Natural Resources Defense Council called it “blind to the pollution these machines spew into the air and water, deaf to the horrific noise they generate, and dumb about the science the National Park Service and the [U.S.] EPA used when they called for a ban.”
