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Enzi proposes park fee hike to pay for improvements

CODY (WNE) — Cody residents may end up paying more to visit Yellowstone National Park. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) has proposed an amendment to the Great American Outdoors Act that will increase the fees for weekly passes to the national parks by $5 and yearly passes by $20.

If passed, the bill in its current form will provide the national parks with $6.65 billion and other federal lands with $2.85 billion total over the next five years to make much-needed infrastructure repairs.

As of press time the amendment was being considered.

The National Park Service said that it needed nearly $12 billion in 2018 to get caught up with repairs across all its parks, which include such facilities as buildings, campgrounds and water systems.

Enzi called the Great American Outdoors Act a “one-time fix” that is “neither responsible nor permanent.” The Congressional Budget Office said the current bill would add more than $17 billion to the national debt.

The bill pays for the repairs by taking 50% of the revenues generated by energy development on federal lands for five years, totaling a maximum of $9.5 billion, $2.5 billion short of the amount the NPS alone needs, and that funding would have to be reauthorized to continue after 2025.

Enzi’s proposed amendment provides a permanent funding solution for maintaining the national parks and would reduce the increase to the national debt.

His amendment increases the visa fees for foreign visitors by $16-$25, to be used for public lands.

The amendment also raises the prices for passes to the parks domestically by $5 for individual park passes–both week-long and year-long passes – and $20 for the wider-ranging America the Beautiful passes.

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