Legal focus shifts to next snowmobile season
TED MONOSON Star-Tribune Washington bureau | Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - With the current Yellowstone National Park snowmobile season rapidly coming to an end, federal officials and environmentalists are focusing their attention on next year's snowmobile season.
Legal jockeying that could determine if or how many snowmobiles are permitted in the park next year began in a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected a request by Bush administration and snowmobile industry lawyers to transfer a case on snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park to a federal court in Wyoming.
"I have not heard any new reasons to believe it is appropriate to transfer this case," Sullivan told the courtroom filled with lawyers, government officials and environmentalists.
At the hearing, Sullivan also delayed a decision on a request by environmental groups that the Interior Department be held in contempt of court for rejecting his ruling on use of snowmobiles in the parks.
"It is the better part of wisdom to put on hold any issues of contempt," Sullivan said.
With the snowmobile season in the park coming to an end on March 14, Sullivan's and the lawyer's eyes are already focused on next winter's snowmobile season.
Visitors to the park and the businesses that depend upon them were taken for a roller-coaster ride this year. Park Service officials, snowmobile industry lawyers and environmentalists all say that they want a stable situation for next season.
Sullivan struck down a Bush administration plan that permits 950 snowmobiles to enter Yellowstone each day. He replaced it with a rule developed under President Bill Clinton's administration that limited the daily number of snowmobiles entering Yellowstone to 490. Under the Clinton plan, no snowmobiles would be permitted in the park during this coming season.
Several weeks after Sullivan's decision, Cheyenne-based U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer rejected both the plans and instructed the National Park Service to develop "fair and equitable" plans for snowmobile use in the park. The Park Service responded by allowing 780 snowmobiles into Yellowstone each day. The environmentalists asked Sullivan to hold Park Service officials in contempt for increasing the number of snowmobiles.
Howard Crystal, lawyer for the Fund for Animals, conceded that the "winter season is essentially over," but called on Sullivan to hold the Interior Department officials in contempt as a "vindication of judicial authority." The Fund for Animals opposed the Clinton administration snowmobile plan and has urged the Interior Department to not even permit snowcoaches in the parks and to not groom the parks' roads. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association and The Wilderness Society have filed a separate lawsuit that would require the Park Service to implement the Clinton plan to phase out snowmobiles and replace them with snowcoaches.
Sullivan set another hearing for April 14 and vowed that the Interior Department official's rejection of his order would be addressed at some point.
"The record will be set straight," Sullivan said before delaying the contempt decision. "The question is, 'Will the record be set straight today?'"
Although environmentalists and snowmobile industry lawyers called for the issue to be settled, they staked out ground that leaves little room for compromise and are likely to continue the legal battle if their positions are rejected.
"The sooner this gets resolved the better," Greater Yellowstone Coalition spokesman Jon Catton said. "Everyday that goes by with this up in the air is another day of uncertainty for the communities around the park."
International Snowmobile Association lawyer Barbara Miller also called for a quick resolution of the issue.
"What we would like is a decision as soon as possible that allows snowmobiles in the park," Miller said. "Frankly it is unclear how that will happen because both the D.C. and Wyoming courts are in flux."
Craig Manson, who is the Interior Department's assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, said until the legal issues are resolved, plans for the next winter season are up in the air.
"As a policy maker, I am waiting for the courts to tell us what to do," Manson said.