Studies show modern snow coaches cleaner, quieter
Modern snow coaches are cleaner and quieter than even the cleanest snowmobiles, according to two draft studies released within the Yellowstone National Park administration this summer.
The results also show that snowmobiles continue to violate noise standards in the park, even though their numbers are fewer and use best available technologies to reduce noise.
The studies, obtained this week by the Casper Star-Tribune, focused on exhaust emissions and noise. They are part of a new study aimed at resolving a long-standing dispute over Yellowstone winter use.
Conservationists say the new studies prove that snow coaches are preferable to snowmobiles.
“The data shows, again, that new snow coaches are cleaner than snowmobiles — that snow coaches still come out on top,”said Amy McNamara, national park director for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
Snowmobile advocates note that snowmobile technology continues to improve.
John Sacklin, management assistant at Yellowstone National Park, said it would be inappropriate to comment on studies that have not gone through the technical review process, or before authors could respond to technical reviews, make changes where appropriate and submit final reports.
Sacklin was interviewed by telephone, while he was between flights at the Detroit airport.
Sacklin emphasized that comment “would be premature,” but he said these reports are “important building blocks” for the park’s fourth winter use study, now under way. Sacklin said it can take longer than desired for technical experts to make their reviews, and his office is pressing for timely responses.
Brian Hawthorn, public land director for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a motorized recreation advocacy group, said he’d defer comment until he could get his hands on all the data and “get my brain wrapped around these studies.”
Hawthorn said he expected conservationists to pursue their goals, and emphasized the need for the Park Service to achieve balance between public enjoyment of park resources and protection of those resources. He said some of the current restrictions on snowmobiles in Yellowstone are “arbitrary and unfair” and should be rolled back. The Blue Ribbon Coalition has consistently emphasized that new technologies are making snowmobiles cleaner and quieter and less harmful to the environment.
McNamara found the draft status of the reports suspect.
“Today (Thursday) is the last day for public comment on the scoping phase of this most recent winter use study,” she said. “The information in these studies should have been available to the public two months ago. The public comments the Park Service receives in the scoping process will not reflect this information.”
Last year, the Yellowstone National Park administration wrote an environmental assessment about the use of snowmobiles in the park and found no significant impact from the continued operation of snowmobiles in the park — albeit fewer in number and with best available technology.
McNamara said that in effect, the Park Service used the environmental assessment approach — rather than the more stringent environmental impact statement approach — so the agency could “lower the bar” on noise standards. She alleges the Park Service knew that fewer snowmobiles, even with best available technology, would violate park noise standards.
For carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide measurements, the cleanest, newest snowmobiles are much cleaner than older snow coaches, such as a vintage Bombardier with a carbureted engine. Yet a vintage Bombardier that’s been converted to have a modern fuel-injected engine with exhaust after-treatment has small fractions of the cleanest snowmobile’s emissions.
Factoring in how many people are carried by the cleanest machines, snowmobiles or snow coaches, the estimated grams per mile per person for snow coaches drops far below snowmobile numbers, down into tiny percentages.
Bill Wade, executive director of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said the draft studies raise the question as to why the Park Service should even continue these studies.
“It seems that the data is overwhelmingly clear, that the Park Service should go with its original preference, do away with snowmobiles and implement a full-scale snow coach plan,” he said.
Wade said what is happening in Yellowstone is in clear violation of the 2001 management guidelines for the Park Service, such as using “least impacting” vehicles or the policy of preserving a natural soundscape.
Under the current plan, expected to be in place for at least the next two winters, up to 720 snowmobiles on guided trips are allowed in Yellowstone each day, in addition to snow coaches, and up to 140 snowmobiles, with no guiding requirement, in nearby Grand Teton National Park and on the parkway connecting the parks.
The state of Wyoming and the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association are challenging the plan, arguing that more people should be able to enter Yellowstone on snowmobiles without guides.
What the studies found
Drawn from two draft studies circulated within Yellowstone National Park administration this summer, the major findings from exhaust and sound monitoring during winter 2004-05 are:
* Four-stroke Ski Doo snowmobiles, approved for use in Yellowstone as “best available technology,” have been discovered to be almost as polluting in carbon monoxide emissions as the 1999 two-stroke snowmobiles. The Ski Doo fleet measured at 78 grams of emissions per mile, compared with the 1999 two-strokers at 85 grams per mile. The target reduction was 70 percent, with only an 8 percent reduction between the two fleets.
* The cleanest four-stroke snowmobiles certified for use in the park are still dramatically more polluting than the cleanest snow coaches. The 2005 Arctic Cat fleet (the best of the best in snowmobiles) measured at 32 grams per mile of carbon monoxide emissions, while an Alpen Guides Delacy (a vintage Bombardier snow coach converted to a modern fuel-injected engine with exhaust, after treatment) recorded 5.7 grams per mile.
* The “2005 mean snow coach” data reflects the park’s mixed use of old and relatively new snow coaches. Of the nine machines tested last winter, four were conversion vans that were 13 to 14 years old; one was a vintage Bombardier; and four were newer models manufactured between 2001-03. For example, all nine coaches lumped together averaged 250 grams per mile of carbon monoxide, compared with 32 grams per mile for the Arctic Cat fleet. Yet of those nine tested snow coaches, a 2001 Chevrolet 4-by-4 conversion van tested at 9.3 grams per mile — much better than the Arctic Cats. Left untested were even newer models present in the park, including several 2005 Vanterra models.
* Noise generated by a daily average of 206 four-stroke snowmobiles exceeded the Park Service definition of “major adverse effects” to visitor enjoyment, even though the standards had been loosened to allow noise 75 percent of the time, up from the previous threshold of 50 percent of the time. Measuring the loudest sounds through each day, snowmobiles at West Yellowstone and Madison Junction were recorded at 76 and 75 percent of the time, respectively, while snow coaches were recorded at 14 and 17 percent of the time. There were many more snowmobiles than snow coaches recorded at these sites. The average number of snow coaches was 25 per day.
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By BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent
Saturday, September 3, 2005 2:06 AM MDT
