Sens. Feinstein, Reid push for promised funds for Lake Tahoe

Brendan Riley

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 7:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - The Clinton budget for the coming fiscal year fails to include a hoped-for $30 million payment to help save Lake Tahoe, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein complained Friday.

The two Democrats said President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman all were at Tahoe two years ago promising the federal government "would be a full partner" in the $900 million effort to preserve the mountain lake.

But instead of the anticipated $30 million, the budget for 2001 includes only $3.5 million specifically for Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada.

Studies confirm the lake is losing its clarity at a rate of about 1 foot a year and that Tahoe's famous cobalt blue hue will turn a murky green within 30 years without intense restoration efforts.

Feinstein and Reid serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Reid is minority whip. They asked for a meeting with Glickman "in time to have an impact" on money allocated for Tahoe in the federal spending plan for fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002.

The senators noted that California already has committed a third of its $275 million share toward the lake restoration project and Nevada has authorized its $82 million share.

The federal funds are supposed to total $300 million over 10 years, and the balance of the money will come mainly from local governments and private sources.

"One very significant and real concern is that the federal budget is sending the worst possible message to nonfederal partners in Tahoe and elsewhere who agree to step up and invest resources in an equitable partnership with the federal government," Feinstein and Reid said.

"It appears that the increase in nonfederal commitments has been met with a retreat of federal commitments."

In mid-February, both senators said they were optimistic about adequate federal funding this year. Similar comments were made by the state's other two senators, Richard Bryan of Nevada and Barbara Boxer of California, and from Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and John Doolittle, R-Calif., who also are working on the Tahoe funding.

All six had testified in favor of a separate bill providing the federal money for the lake. But Reid's office said it's preferable to have the money in the actual budget document.