All-terrain vehicles make slow progress. (Updates).

Many environmentalists, including the group Bluewater Network, were disappointed last September when the Bush administration issued what some considered to be weak emissions standards for personal watercraft--such as Jet Skis--snowmobiles and other all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The Environmental Protection Agency says that phasing in the mandated 50 percent reduction in ATV emissions over a 10-year period will prevent the annual production of more than two million tons of pollution.

Public Lands Associate Katy Rexford of Bluewater says Bush should do more to encourage manufacturers to make more ATVs with four-stroke engines. "Four-strokes are 80 percent cleaner than two-stokes," says Rexford. She explains that two-stroke engines, which make up a majority of the ATV market, only burn about two-thirds of the fuel put in them, while the rest is spewed into the air, snow or water (see "Ali-Terrain Destruction," Currents, May/June 2000).

"They have been talking about this for five years," says Mike Yochim, a University of Wisconsin geographer. He adds that the administration failed to address other ATV problems such as noise pollution, accidents, and terrain and wildlife disturbance. CONTACT: Bluewater Network, [phone], www.blue waternetwork.org.--E.H.