Not So Fast for the Blue Ribbers to Celebrate Ruining Air Quality in Yellowstone....

[JoseCuervo]

And just when the Blue Ribbers thought it was clear to go back to the park.....

Judge blasts new sled rules

By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge threatened Tuesday to hold National Park Service officials in contempt for violating his orders and deciding last week to allow more snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he found it "mystifying" that the Park Service last Wednesday decided to allow 780 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone when he ordered them last year to allow no more than 493 of them each day this winter.

"It's just a nonchalant attitude of the government to a federal judge's order," the judge said, setting a hearing for March 9 on a possible contempt finding.

And the rest of the article.... is
Judge Blasting the Bush Administration....

 

[dgibson]

Better, Gunner, better! You dang near stuck to the topic all the way this time!

Why 780, and 493? Did they have some mystical mathematical formula that added up to "493?" Weird.

 

[JoseCuervo]

If you carefully add the digits in 493 , you get 4+9+3 = 16. The Wyoming Judge wanted his answer to add up to 16 also, so he did 7+8+0 = 15, which was close enough, kinda like the 1/2 hearted attempt by the Blue Ribbers and the "Industry" to reduce emissions in YNP.... Close enough.....

(DGib... Go read the Git your Facts Straight topic, I am trying to change it to Gun Control and Anti-NRA....)

 

[Hangar18]

"Your request has been...DENIED."

It's going to be an interesting summer indeed. YNP Sled season ends 3/15.

Agency refuses to ban snowmobiles

Agency refuses to ban snowmobiles
By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff

The National Park Service won't stop grooming roads in the winter or try to prohibit snowmobiles throughout the park system, federal officials said Wednesday.

Craig Manson, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, said a request by environmental groups to ban snowmobiles from all national parks has been denied.

Limiting the number of snowmobiles in national parks and relying on cleaner and quieter machines will help mitigate any harmful effects of the machines, Manson said, so an across-the-board ban is not needed.

"I do not believe it is necessary or appropriate," he said.

The decision issued late Tuesday was prompted by a federal judge's order from last December.

When U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan overturned a Bush administration plan for snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, he also required the Park Service to respond to a 1999 petition by environmental groups to stop grooming roads in the winter and to prohibit snowmobiles in all national parks.

The groups say that grooming the roads poses a danger to wildlife, including bison that could wander out of the park and be subjected to hazing or slaughter under a state and federal plan to prevent the spread of brucellosis.

Manson acknowledged that previous Interior officials believed that a snowmobile ban across all national parks might be warranted, but he said new policies and technological changes, including those laid out in 2003 for snowmobiles in Yellowstone, justified Tuesday's decision.

Environmental groups said they would protest the ruling.

"We're not surprised at what this administration continues to do but it's incredibly disappointing," said Sean Smith of the Bluewater Network, an environmental group that has sued over the snowmobile issue.

"Unfortunately the management of our parks will once again have to be decided in a court of law," he said.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Hangar,

That was the administrative appeal. There is still the March 7 hearing. My guess is the Judge will find the Bush administration in Contempt, and shut it down for the last 8 days, just because he is pissed about some redneck on the Bench in Wyoming contradicting him.

He would not have ordered the hearing, unless he was planning on overturning the guy in Wyoming.

And I agree, it will be an interesting Summer...

 

[Ten Bears]

I wonder if cases like this will have any legal bearing?

...it is not up to the Court to tell [the Forest Service] how to balance those interests....That Plaintiffs disagree with [the Forest Service's] ultimate conclusion does not grant the Court authority to second-guess an agency decision."

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