Interesting AP report filed out of Billings yesterday regarding snowmobile use in Yellowstone.  It appears that 86 members of Congress, 79 Democrats and 7 Republicans, have sent a letter to Park Service Director Mary Bomar requesting that snowmobile use be phased out entirely in YNP. 

The snowmobile debate has been raging now for more than a decade, and it appears that nothing new was articulated in the letter.

What seems to be most interesting is that over half of the signatures were from members of congress respresenting just 5 states - Florida, California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.  In all 28 states were represented - though none of the signatories were from Montana, Wyoming, or Idaho where the Park is located.

Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg issued a statement criticizing the “urban members of Congress” who signed the letter.

We didn’t realize that our distant neighbors in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Illinois were such experts on snowmobiles and their impact on the Park….we’d be interested in seeing how many of the signatories had even been to Yellowstone in the winter…..

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