This is not normally a topic I get involved in, but the Times had a strong Op-Ed today against the Bush administration's "bizarre" support for snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.

No Snowmobiles

Although they admit that there are two sides to the issue, the Times seems to be taking a "with us or against us" stand. (How ironic).

They are correct in stating that the National Park Service is indeed in favor of a ban. Winter Use Background Information seems to be a no-nonsense description of the issue at the NPS' website. The one thing it doesn't talk about is who exactly is fighting their decision to keep Yellowstone snowmobile-free.

From the Legislative side it seems like the House failed to ban the 'biles a couple of months ago. The liberal argument seems to be "it's not natural" while the conservative argument seems to be "some are OK if we keep the numbers down and the noise and pollution is toned down". The article also estimates that 900 jobs would be lost in an area that I can't imagine is a fountain of opportunity.

Here is a CNN story from 2000 with some pretty ugly claims against the snowmobiles. I'll accept that the numbers are true even if the sources aren't mentioned, although my belief is that some of the claimed results of snowmobile pollution seem a little far fetched to me on the face of it. I mean could the exhaust from a few hundred snowmobiles really mimic the air pollution levels of a metropolis of several million people? An unscientific poll linked to the article shows two-thirds of those who responded are against the ban.

Here's a brief article by one of the environmental groups claiming what the Times was saying in it's Op-Ed piece, that Bush is ignoring his own administrations studies about the damage to Yellowstone and a negligible economic impact. Again, unfortunately, there are no direct links to back up the claims.

And The Truth About Snowmobiling from an Industry Organization. This link has a complete timeline regarding the events surrounding the proposed ban.

Personally, I love the outdoors and given a choice would prefer to see a ban.

However, I find it disingenuous that the liberals who support the ban because snowmobiling denies people the opportunity to enjoy the park, are the same people that are against bans on smoking in public places because it denies people the freedom to do what they want.