Steven Holt: “Yellowstone Park, our first national park, our premier national park, a symbol of America, is being loved to death. My…”

“Yellowstone Park, our first national park, our premier national park, a symbol of America, is being loved to death. My colleagues and I today are offering this amendment to protect Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks, some of our Nation's most valuable treasures. The Park Service which is charged with protecting the natural resources of the parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of current and future generations has studied the state of these parks. In Yellowstone Park, they have determined that the use of snowmobiles is the principal insult to the park, an insult that can be corrected. What they say is that phasing out of snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton is the best way to protect the parks, better than other alternatives, better than requiring new snowmobiles, better than requiring guided snowmobile tours, better than a cap on the number of machines entering the park daily. Snowmobiles produce significantly more noise and pollution than cars, presenting a health hazard to park rangers, to visitors and obscuring the visibility even around Old Faithful.”