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Chickasaw National Recreation Area
Re-Opens to Personal Watercraft
Environmental Assessment Concludes PWC Present “No Significant
Impact”
PWC Welcomed Back Effective Immediately September 2, 2004
| Source: Personal Watercraft
Industry Association Washington, DC - Oklahoma boaters can again enjoy their freedom of recreational choice as Chickasaw National Recreation Area welcomes personal watercraft back to the Lake of the Arbuckles in time for Labor Day Weekend. The ruling was published today (September 2, 2004) in the Federal Register, and is effective immediately. Nearly three years after the National Park Service was required by a court settlement to restrict personal watercraft (PWC) pending the results of scientific studies regarding the vessels’ impact, Chickasaw has completed the required environmental assessments and concluded that PWC present “no significant impact,” and are an appropriate boating activity for the National Recreation Area. Of four proposed rules, the park’s preferred alternative welcomes PWC use with reasonable regulations, such as no-use zones within 150 feet of specific picnic areas. A National Park Service (NPS) press release that outlines the full ruling is available online at http://www.nps.gov/chic/pphtml/newsdetail14212.html Six additional National Park Service (NPS) units already welcome personal watercraft, seven other units are in the final stages of the rulemaking process to reallow the vessels, and scientific analyses on the effects of personal watercraft are currently underway at two National Seashores. "Today another national park that has put personal watercraft to the test has reaffirmed that these boats are among the cleanest and quietest on the water,” said Jeff Ludwig, Regulatory Affairs Manager at the Personal Watercraft Industry Association (PWIA). “The ban in 2000 was unreasonable because scientific studies consistently show that modern PWC have no unique impact that justifies singling them out for discriminatory bans." Often referred to by their trade names—JET SKI®, WaveRunner® Sea-Doo® and AquaTrax®, personal watercraft were banned from most National Recreation Areas, Lakeshores and Seashores in 2002 as a result of a 2000 lawsuit between an anti-boating group and the National Park Service. Each unit that seeks to reopen to PWC is required to complete a comprehensive scientific study of PWC impact on the local environment and economy and prepare a rule allowing continued PWC use. Chickasaw has completed this process and has determined that PWC have no unique impact on its waterways. “In every instance – 14 to date - where an environmental assessment has measured the impact of PWC on a body of water where motorized boating is permitted, PWC have been welcomed back,” said Ludwig. “It’s becoming clearer each day that the national parks were forced to prohibit PWC use in the first place because of frivolous accusations made by an extreme anti-boating group,” he continued. “This anti-boating group is responsible for costing the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars because it has single handedly forced the National Park Service to conduct these assessments in order to review the ban.” |
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