News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 6, 2002

National Park Service Requests More Time to Study Personal Watercraft Use in 21
National Parks

Contact:
Elinore Boeke, 202-721-1621

Washington, DC - At the request of the National Park Service, the Justice Department on February 8, 2002 sent a letter to the Bluewater Network, requesting an extension of the deadline agreed to in a court settlement of Bluewater's lawsuit against NPS, to complete environmental assessments regarding the use of personal watercraft in 21 national parks that allow motorized boating.

The letter from Martin J. LaLonde, a trial attorney with the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, states:

The [settlement] Agreement provides, in part, that, for personal watercraft use ("PWC") to continue…in certain identified National Park Service units…the Park Service must promulgate special regulations… The special regulations are to be based on appropriate environmental analyses pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA").

Since the Agreement was entered, the Park Service has proceeded with its analyses pursuant to NEPA, but has encountered unanticipated delays and funding shortfalls for the analysis. Accordingly, the Park Service has requested that I propose a two-year extension of the dates contained in the December 2000 Agreement for promulgation of any special regulations.

The settlement agreement requires that environmental assessments be completed by April or September 2002, depending on the park. After completing the assessments, the Park Service can decide whether to allow, regulate or prohibit PWC use based on the facts gathered in the assessment process. If the assessment is not completed and a special regulation promulgated, PWC use is automatically banned.

So far, the environmental assessments have only been partially completed in the parks.

"It is clear that the judge intended a fair, open, public process based on good science," said Monita Fontaine, executive director of the Personal Watercraft Industry Association. PWIA attempted to intervene in the lawsuit, but was denied, based partially on NPS' argument that the settlement agreement "embodies nothing more than processes in which the right of the intervenor-applicants to be full participants is fully preserved."

In the memorandum denying PWIA's motion to intervene, the court said of the settlement agreement, "The Agreement makes only two changes to the process by which PWC use may be authorized in those 21 units: it removes the unilateral power of the Park Superintendent to allow PWC use in ten of those units, and it requires that the Special Regulation procedure (based on a NEPA analysis and greater public involvement) be used in all 21 park units…"

The process was put in place, the court said, to eliminate "total control by the Park Superintendent and [to require] that continued PWC use be conditioned on a rulemaking process which requires a NEPA analysis and public notice and comment (in which [PWIA] may of course participate)."

"I hope Bluewater will recognize the burdens imposed on the Park Service over the past year-including post 9-11 security activities and expenses-and the recent appointment of a new Director, and will agree to the extension request," said Fontaine.

"It is important that these environmental assessments be accurate, science-based studies," Fontaine continued. "We are confident that unbiased studies will recognize the innovative technologies that the personal watercraft industry has created in order to produce safe, quiet and environmentally-friendly family boats.

"There is no scientific basis for singling out personal watercraft for bans."

Makers of personal watercraft support reasonable regulations, strict enforcement of navigation and safety laws, and mandatory boating education. Criticism of personal watercraft focuses on stale data, ignoring recent technological advances and initiatives to promote safe and responsible use of these vessels.

A summer 2001 independent survey by the Leisure Trends Group showed that a majority of Americans believe personal watercraft use should be permitted in the National Parks.

Personal watercraft are affordable family boats with clean, quiet, fuel-efficient engines and no exposed propellers. Since 1998, personal watercraft manufacturers have invested in technological advances that have led to a 75 percent reduction in hydrocarbon and NOx emissions and a 70 percent reduction in sound. New direct-injection systems in two-stroke personal watercraft engines are vastly cleaner than older, conventional two-stroke marine engines. The industry continues to innovate, and this year, Bombardier, Honda, and Yamaha are offering four-stroke engine technology in 2002 models of personal watercraft.

More information about personal watercraft is available at www.pwia.org.