More Government Broadband Expansion as Yellowstone Considers Fiber

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse for taxpayers, along comes another way for government to waste money, broadband in national parks. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has documented the lousy track record the public sector has when it comes to government broadband and with examples like the ones in Tennessee, Louisiana and Utah (read here, here, and here), it defies logic why more attempts would be made.

Just last week, reports surfaced about another proposed expansion of government broadband, but this time in national parks. For example, Yellowstone National Park is on the verge of adding to an already established broadband apparatus as part of the “Go Digital” campaign:

Officials at Yellowstone National Park are in talks for a $34 million fiber optic line that would bring increased Internet connectivity to the home of Old Faithful. If the plan goes through, CenturyLink would install the line, running it through Grand Teton National Park and into Yellowstone.

This proposal comes at the same time that Yellowstone is in the midst of considering a fee increase that would hit the millions of annual visitors to the park.

Taxpayers should not be on the hook for providing broadband in the national parks. A trip to a national park should be spent enjoying the natural beauty of nature, not posting nature “selfies” to social media.

Secondly, with today’s wireless technology consumers are perfectly able to access the Internet without a government-subsidized connection.

Any taxpayer money given to national parks should be used for clearing out the backlog of repairs that need to be done.  According to the National Parks Conservation Association, there is $11.3 billion total on the deferred maintenance backlog for our national parks. This includes more than $6 billion in park roads and bridges alone. There is no rationale to be exploring broadband expansion in Yellowstone or any other national park if the conditions at the parks are substandard.

Though the talks are only in the initial stages, that hasn’t stopped criticisms of the proposal, nor should it. An interesting dynamic that is playing out has some speaking out who are concerned about the environmental impact of expanding the broadband infrastructure in Yellowstone. Ryan Rudnansky of Travelpulse.com reports:

Some are concerned about the effect the line could have on the natural environment. That includes Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Jeff Ruch, the advocacy group’s executive director, said increasing the park’s bandwidth would create more “electronic distractions” that could disrupt the surrounding environment. He also said that much-needed road maintenance and other basic infrastructure improvements should take precedence over the CenturyLink deal.

Taxpayer-funded broadband has been an utter failure across the country.  Providing broadband for national parks makes a bad policy even worse.