Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rarebird who wrote (56291)	7/15/2000 9:04:55 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116870

OT Like I said, Bill will do loads to buy the environmental vote(should we even ask about the "funny numbers which drive the market?): Business owners predict doom in NPS snowmobile ban WASHINGTON (AP) – Communities around national parks will be economically crippled by the National Park Service’s ban on snowmobiles in most parks, business owners testified Thursday before a U.S. House subcommittee. Robert Stein, owner of the 17-unit Alger Falls Motel near Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, estimated the ban will cut his winter business by 30 percent. “The closing of parks to snowmobiling is the worst threat to my business that I can imagine,” Stein told the subcommittee on Tax, Finance and Exports of the Small Business Committee. “The mere mention of these trail closures has prompted numerous concerned calls and letters from customers and residents alike.” The Park Service announced last month it was banning nearly all snowmobile traffic in 25 national parks, recreation areas and other agency lands. Conservationists estimated about 180,000 snowmobilers used Park Service land last year. Final decisions on applying the ban to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks were delayed until November after completion of winter-use studies at the parks. Kevin Collins of the National Parks Conservation Association said the snowmobile industry is exaggerating with its claims of massive economic impact. There were about 700 miles of roads and waterways open to snowmobiles in national parks, but there are still tens of thousands of miles of trails for snowmobiling available outside the parks, he said. “I find it hard to believe that banning snowmobiles on 700 miles of trails will create winter ghost towns around the country,” he said. Collins said snowmobiles should be banned in parks because their noise disturbs some park visitors and the machines pollute the air. “We don’t dismiss the impact on small business or large business for that matter, but in our opinion, the first concern ought to be the conservation of the parks,” he said. Business owners from Illinois and Montana, the president of the University of South Dakota and congressmen from several northern states also testified about the negative impacts of the ban. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., chairman of the subcommittee, said he hoped the hearing would put pressure on the National Park Service to reconsider the ban. A message left at the Park Service was not returned Thursday. (cont) billingsgazette.com