Chalk It Up: Judge Rules Against Snowmobiles
By Wesley Joseph • Sep 16th, 2008 • Category: Climate Change, News and Media, Pollution, Recent Posts
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Chalk one up for the environment!
From the New York Times’ Jim Robbins:
HELENA, Mont. — A federal judge ruled Monday that the Bush administration’s plan to allow more than 500 snowmobiles a day into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks was not in keeping with the National Park Service’s responsibility to protect the parks.
The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan of Federal District Court in Washington, said park planners had failed to reconcile their mission to protect the parks’ environment with the increase in air pollution, the disturbance to wildlife and the impact on visitors that the snowmobiles would bring.
“The plan clearly elevates use over conservation of park resources and values,” Judge Sullivan wrote in his 63-page ruling.
Commentary:
Here, the commonsense approach a judge took comparing the stated mission of the national parks to the purpose officials in the Bush Administration were wanting to do, that is, to allow a major source of pollution, noise, and disturbance right there in the park. At the end of the comparison, he used good judgement to rule in favor of protecting these environmental sanctuaries.
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Wesley Joseph is the primary editor for EHI. He comes from a strong political science background and is interested in the effect humans' actions have on the environment, how in turn the environment affects humans, and how environmental policy at large and personal actions can both change into positive envirohuman impacts.
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