The article noting the seesawing plans for snowmobile
use in Yellowstone Park repeats a common refrain that I have seen
in many news articles about this issue: the suggestion that we
should feel sorry for the buyers and users of snowmobiles because
the rules changed (HCN, 1/19/04: Yellowstone snowmobilers suffer
whiplash). I wish news writers would give equal time to stating
that it has been common knowledge for at least 40 years that
two-cycle engines leave a noxious trail of oil behind them.
Whether one blames this environmental disgrace on buyers
or manufacturers or rental companies or whatever, it has been
willful denial for decades that has delayed the development of a
clean engine. Those owners and companies have been very happy to
make big profits on a growing industry without any investment in
stewardship or responsible modernization.
“The Clean
Snowmobile Challenge” was started in the late ’90s, when
industry people claimed a clean alternative was not practical. In
the very first year, a small team of college kids made the winning
snowmobile with a clean-burning four-cycle engine. The industry
would rather spend money on ads, and the owners would rather spend
money on $30,000-dollar SUVs to tow their custom trailers and store
their electrically heated snowsuits.
The popular
snowmobile sport of “high marking” is an exact analogy of what has
gone on in the industry: Pick an avalanche chute and try to see how
far up the steep slope one can roar with the machine. Flatlanders
will surely feel aghast to see what happens when an avalanche lets
loose, but anyone paying attention has to know: A lot of obviously
poor choices went into the disaster.
George
Winters
Darrington,
Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Whiplash? Hardly.
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