New limits on snowmobiles -- what will Dick Cheney and Todd Palin do?

Tough news for Vice President Dick Cheney from the federal court in Washington.

No, it has nothing to do with his signature issues -- anti-terrorism intelligence and energy.

This one deals with potential recreational pursuits back home in Wyoming. He is, after all, about to retire.

Well before the surge of interest in snowmobiles, President Richard M. Nixon and then President Jimmy Carter imposed limits on the use of off-road vehicles in the national parks.

In its last days in office, the Bill Clinton administration moved to phase out snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, but the Bush administration reversed that decision and instead moved to expand their access.

Now, as President Bush is about to leave office, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan tossed out the National Park Service's most recent plan, formulated by the administration in 2007, that would have "allowed 540 recreational snowmobiles and 83 snow coaches a day to enter Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway," the Washington Post reports.

The Grand Teton mountains tower above Jackson Hole, where Cheney maintains a secluded home deep in a heavily forested spread.

Sullivan ruled that the park services "failed to articulate why a plan that will admittedly worsen air quality complies" with federal conservation rules.

The plan developed by the Bush administration "is arbitrary and capricious, unsupported by the record, and contrary to law," said Sullivan, who was nominated to the federal court by President Clinton, after serving in District of Columbia superior and appeals courts to which he was named by Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

He ruled that "in contravention" of the 1916 Organic Act that created the National Park Service, the snowmobile plan:

... clearly elevates use over conservation of park resources and values and fails to articulate why the Plan’s 'major adverse impacts' are 'necessary and appropriate to fulfill the purposes of the park.'

Ed Klim, president of the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Assn. in Haslett, Mich., told the New York Times: "This is not the end of the issue. We will be successful in our appeal."

Come to think of it, none of this could make Alaska First Dude Todd Palin happy.

The husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is a champion snowmobile racer.

-- James Gerstenzang

Top photo: Snowmobiles traverse Yellowstone National Park in 2003. Credit: Craig Moore / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Todd and Sarah Palin at the start of the Iron Dog snowmobile race in 2007. Credit: Al Grillo / Associated Press

Comments

[Bob Elliott]

My how the news has deteriorated. People who have never lived in the north have not a clue as to the hardships imposed by weather yet make fun of the one vehicle that is useful in rescue operations.

This article reflects the passion of the Media to cast stones first. After all they (Liberal Media who back Obama) do judge a person before he can exit the womb.

[YNP4everyone]

The plan REDUCED the daily snowmobile limit from 720 to 540. The judge can't compare averages to maximum caps as you can't fill every day through an entire winter as weather does play into whether or not you can even get to Yellowstone. Also the machines in your pictures are still banned from entering Yellowstone so not every snowmobile is allowed in there.

Would the groups agree to a daily average where 2,000 machines could enter the park if they are way behind average? Don't think so. The cap limits how crowded it ever could be.

Snowmobiles that run in the park now use automotive engines that are regulated while tens of thousands of unregulated automobiles are allowed daily in the summer time.

If you want to visit the park when it is quiet, do it in the winter because if you have been there summer and winter you know the truth that winter is much quieter.