Washington, DC – Congressman Pearce weighs in on the National Park Service (NPS) failing to meet yet another deadline in the renovations of the primary elevators at Carlsbad Caverns National Park:
 
"Here we are again. Come and gone is yet another deadline missed by NPS to reopen the primary elevators at Carlsbad Caverns," said Pearce. "For nearly three years, the Caverns have been without a primary set of elevators. We know from NPS's own data that this outage has hurt visitation at the Caverns. This Memorial Day had the lowest visitation in years. The Carlsbad Caverns are a national treasure that every American should have the ability to enjoy. NPS's failure not only limits opportunity for American families, but it harms the local economy that partly depends on the tourism that the Caverns provide.

"Continued delay is plainly unacceptable. NPS is hurting families who aren't able to access the Caverns by hiking, and the New Mexican economy due to their lack of effective management. NPS and the Department of the Interior must fix this problem, and fix it now," continued Pearce.
 
Background:
Since November 2015, Carlsbad Caverns National Park has operated without their primary elevators, relying on their secondary (freight) elevators, which have been working intermittently. Operating without duplication has resulted in multiple total elevator outages. Most recently, in March 2018, the secondary elevators failed and the entire park was without elevator access. Data provided by the NPS shows a direct correlation between the elevators being out and visitation numbers. According to the numbers, monthly visitation numbers drop sharply below the monthly average when both sets of elevators are out.