Gale Polish

Norton has a gay old time snowmobiling in Yellowstone

The debate over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park has taken a decidedly Potemkin turn. This week, Interior Secretary Gale Norton visited the park to give the vehicles a personal endorsement, fleecing up for a three-hour ride through sub-zero temperatures. Though two National Park Service environmental assessments have found that the "environmentally preferred" approach would be to ban the vehicles entirely from the park's fragile winter ecosystem, Norton was having none of it. She even went so far as to dismiss the alternative of snowcoaches -- which are increasingly popular and more environmentally benign -- by saying they are "not as special as a snowmobile." Norton promised yet another environmental review that would emphasize "access," and said she might try to remove the requirement that snowmobilers be accompanied by a trained guide.