Congressmen try to get park snowmobile ban reinstated

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

Three eastern congressmen are hoping to ban snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park and end the killing of bison there by amending an Interior Department spending bill, a national environmental group said Monday.

Action on the bill is scheduled for this week.

Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., said Monday he hadn't heard of the pending amendments and could not predict whether they stand a chance of passage.

The measures "may be successful. I can't predict that," said Rehberg, Montana's only member of the U.S. House of Representatives. "There's certainly a following for this kind of position."

The Natural Resources Defense Council announced the pending amendments Monday from its Washington office.

"We wrote them," said Michael Scott, director of the Bozeman-based Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He said several environmental groups are working to pass the amendments.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-West. Va., Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., and Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., will sponsor one amendment that would install the Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in the park in favor of multi-pasenger snow coaches.

Rahall also is sponsoring an amendment that would ban the National Park Service from spending any federal money to kill bison inside the park.

"That would encourage the federal government to seek non-lethal solutions" like hazing or holding animals in corrals, said Wesley Warren, senior fellow for environmental economics at NRDC.

While Rehberg couldn't say whether the measures might pass, he was sharply critical of the tactics.

"It kind of cuts the public out, and Rahall's really good at this," he said. "He uses parliamentary tricks. He uses end runs."

Banning snowmobiling by amending the appropriations bill -- which funds everything from national parks to Indian health care -- is a way to "sneak something through," Rehberg said.

The current Yellowstone snowmobile plan, favored by the Bush administration, limits numbers and allows only cleaner quieter sleds. It will "strike a balance" that allows for continued use while reducing problems in the park, Rehberg said, pointing to the economic importance of snowmobiling, especially in West Yellowstone.

Scott said congressional watchers have been counting votes and a tally on both measures is "too close to call."

"There's a tremendous amount of concern in the Congress about both" bison and snowmobiling, he said.

Scott said the amendments are not the same as "riders," which are measures attached to spending bills in ways that allow little or no debate.

These amendments will be debated on the House floor, probably this week. Rehberg said he'll do all he can to defeat them.

If they pass, they still could face an uphill battle in the Senate, where they will face strong opposition from western senators and could be amended out of the appropriations bill in that body.

Reader Comments