New Orleans Film Society

Synopsis

A Snow Mobile for George is a rambunctious road trip that collects the stories of fishermen, cowboys and firemen facing the consequences when the Bush Administration eliminates environmental rules. Started by the filmmaker’s curiosity about the deregulation of his own two-stroke snowmobile, the persistent questions eventually uncover the rationale behind a massive sell-off of public resources. Told with a dry sense of humor, the film traces rule changes back to key members of the administration. On this coast-to-coast journey, the filmmaker goes to the Klamath River along the drought-stricken California/Oregon border where politically inspired rule changes by the Administration helped cause the nation’s largest fish die-off in 2002. A thousand miles East, in Wyoming, he discovers a range war between ranchers and oil-companies that started when political appointees in the Interior Department suppressed clean water rules for natural gas drilling. And finally, he and the snowmobile roll into lower Manhattan. There he meets New York firemen, Wall Street workers and residents worried about their health and their lives because White House environmental officials ordered the EPA to side-step toxic waste protocols after the collapse of the World Trade Center. In the end, the tragic-comic vehicle of the snowmobile reveals a sophisticated political strategy that has increased the power of the Executive Branch, and left average Americans stranded along the way.