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<DIV class=timestamp>December 1, 2006</DIV>
<DIV class=kicker><NYT_KICKER>Editorial</NYT_KICKER></DIV>
<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Another Plan for Snowmobiles
</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE type=" "
version="1.0"></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT></NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody>
<P>Yet another winter and here we are, still wrangling over snowmobiles in
Yellowstone. Last week the National Park Service released a draft environmental
impact statement that would allow 720 snowmobiles a day into the park. It would
also require snowmobilers to ride with guides and to use the newest generation
of supposedly environmentally friendly machines. </P>
<P>But everything we have learned about snowmobiles in Yellowstone thanks to
an apparently unending series of publicly funded studies tells us that there
should be no snowmobiles there at all.</P>
<P>Last winter, the park service by accident conducted an even more
persuasive experiment. Snowmobile numbers were way down in Yellowstone, thanks
largely to uncertainty about the regulations. And every measurement showed just
how much cleaner the air was with only about a third of the machines proposed
under this new plan zooming through the park. But even those few still exceeded
the noise limits wherever they concentrated at Old Faithful, for instance.
</P>
<P>Snowmobiling is almost entirely about speed, and most of the promised
environmental gains have been sacrificed for more horsepower. The best way to
get people into the park in winter is the new generation of snow coaches, small,
snow-going buses that are vastly quieter and cleaner. </P>
<P>The snowmobile problem is a political vortex of surprising endurance.
Scientific studies funded by the Clinton and Bush administrations have made it
clear again and again that snowmobiles seriously degrade the environment of
Yellowstone. The park service needs a new plan, and if it cant provide one then
Congress should intervene. There should be no snowmobiles in Yellowstone.
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