California may sue over plan to increase national park fees.
Proposed fee hike unfair, attorney general contends
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led top attorneys from 10 states Wednesday in threatening legal action against the Trump administration for planning to more than double national park entrance fees.
A letter drafted by Becerra and signed by representatives of the mostly blue states says the proposal to increase the price of admission at Yosemite and 16 other marquee parks — to $70 per vehicle during the busy season — is not only unfair to many less affluent Americans but is inconsistent with national park policies.
“Our goal as a nation should be to make our national parks supremely inviting and encourage more families to visit them,” Becerra said in a prepared statement. “Instead, the Trump administration proposes the complete opposite.”
Since the rate plan was introduced last month, more than 65,000 people have logged comments about the hikes, most with concerns about people being priced out of such iconic spots as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. California’s Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and Joshua Tree are also slated for the increase.
The state attorneys general — in the letter
scheduled to be mailed on Wednesday to Michael T. Reynolds, acting director of the National Park Service — accuse administration officials of failing to justify the fee increases, as required by federal law. For example, officials did not show that the proposed rates are commensurate with visitor benefits, nor did they document what effects they would have on park users, the letter asserts. The lawyers also say the administration is providing too little time for public input.
If the concerns laid out in the letter are not addressed, Becerra’s office said litigation would follow.
Becerra’s opposition to the rate hikes is just the latest of many legal challenges he’s made to the Trump White House. The first-year attorney general has taken stands against the president’s proposed border wall, restrictions on travel from some majorityMuslim nations and efforts to cut funding to sanctuary cities, often winning court battles and putting the brakes on administration policies.
Administrators of the Department of Interior, the target of Becerra’s new objections, have defended higher park fees as a way to pay down the National Park Service’s mounting maintenance backlog. The federal parks are estimated to need $11.3 billion of repairs to roads, trails, campgrounds, water systems and other infrastructure, well beyond the means of the agency’s annual $2.8 billion budget.
National Park Service officials did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday.
The agency’s proposed rate plan would raise vehicle fees, which are good for a week, at “highly visited” parks during peak seasons. At Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon parks, as well as such hot spots as Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon and Glacier, the $70 price would apply May 1 through Sept. 30. At Joshua Tree, the new rates would run Jan. 1 through May 31.
The 17 parks slated for increases currently charge $25 or $30 per vehicle. The parks are also scheduled to raise motorcycle entrance fees to $50 and pedestrian fees to $30. The new rates are scheduled to kick in next year after a public comment period, which was recently extended from Thursday to Dec. 22.
The annual park pass, which provides admission to all parks throughout the year, would remain $80.
The attorneys general joining Becerra in signing the letter of opposition are from many of the same states that have sided with California in other fights against the Trump administration: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Right-leaning Arizona is also a signatory. So is the District of Columbia.
Beyond the legal arguments, the attorneys concur with other critics of the Trump administration who say the parks plan doesn’t make fiscal sense. Though higher entrance fees will bring in more money, as much as $70 million a year, according to federal estimates, the administration is simultaneously proposing a roughly $300 million cut to the agency’s annual budget.
“While we acknowledge and appreciate the ongoing, critical funding needs faced by the service, addressing these needs should not come at the expense of making national parks less accessible,” the attorneys write. “Given the size of the deferred maintenance backlog, the most prudent step for the administration to take would be to seek additional funding from Congress.”