A federal judge today declined an opportunity to strike down the rule that approved the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone. That means that snowmobiles still will be allowed in the park, following the previously approved rule and the Interior Department appropriations bill that shielded that interim rule for the 2005-06 season.
The judge, Emmet Sullivan of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, is the same judge that made a December 2003 order to ban sleds in Yellowstone. That ruling was overturned a few months later.
Sullivan said today, in a case brought by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, that the current interim rule may not be consistent with the Organic Act, but that asking him to reinforce the 2003 ban was not the proper avenue to challenge the interim snowmobile rule.
More info: BlueRibbon Coalition,
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