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http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=40970
I hate efforts by the US Gubment to limit what we can do. The damn bureaucrats would regulate every breath we take if we let them. Maybe Personal Water Craft (Jetskis, etc.) are bad for the environment... maybe not. I don't personally like them, but I hate seeing another freedom taken away.
At the link above, there is a notice from the NPS, and a link where you can make your feelings known... pro or con. The gist of the notice is below.
I hate efforts by the US Gubment to limit what we can do. The damn bureaucrats would regulate every breath we take if we let them. Maybe Personal Water Craft (Jetskis, etc.) are bad for the environment... maybe not. I don't personally like them, but I hate seeing another freedom taken away.
At the link above, there is a notice from the NPS, and a link where you can make your feelings known... pro or con. The gist of the notice is below.
Personal watercraft (PWC) were historically permitted in the units of the National Park Service (NPS) under the same regulations as other motorized watercraft. Due to the large increase in PWC use in the 1990s, the NPS published a proposed rule in 1998 which banned PWC use in all park units except for 21 units with a history of prior PWC use. These 21 excepted parks, including Gulf Islands, were given a two-year grace period to develop and implement park-specific PWC regulations in order to continue to allow PWC use. Gulf Islands prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the NEPA compliance for a regulation allowing continued PWC use. The NPS completed the final regulation for PWC use at Gulf Islands in 2006.
In 2008, a lawsuit was filed claiming that the EA was deficient and violated NEPA, the NPS Organic Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. On July 8, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling, finding that the impact analyses in the PWC EA were inadequate. The court did not vacate the PWC regulations, but remanded the case to the NPS "so that it may have an opportunity to provide adequate reasoning for its conclusions." Therefore, the special regulations remain in effect and PWC are currently still allowed to operate at Gulf Islands. The NPS intends to address the deficiencies identified by the court by preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for PWC use at Gulf Islands, which will include supplemental documentation, impact analyses not present in the earlier EA, and may include additional alternatives. Your input and engagement are important to this planning process.
To submit a comment on the project, please click the "Open for Comment" button on the left hand side of this page. Then select the document that you wish to review and then click "Comment on Document" to enter and submit your comments.
The NPS will hold public scoping meetings (and accept additional public comment) in Spring 2013 after we have developed preliminary alternatives for managing PWC use within Seashore boundaries. We will post details regarding the public meetings on the this website as soon as the information is available.