Bush to campaign at Lake Tahoe

Wednesday, May 31, 2000 | 11:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who has wrapped up the Republican nomination for president, makes his first political stop in Nevada on Thursday to give what is billed as a major speech on the environment and to raise more campaign money.

The governor will be honored at a $20,000 a couple round-table gathering and later at a $1,000 a plate luncheon at the exclusive enclave Glenbrook at Lake Tahoe.

Money from the round-table discussion will go to the Republican Party, and proceeds from the luncheon will go to Bush's campaign.

First he will give a talk at Sand Harbor State Park on Lake Tahoe's shores near where President Clinton held a two-hour forum and pledged $50 million to stop the decline in the water's clarity two years ago.

About 200 people are expected at the speech, state Republican Executive Director Ryan Erwin said.

Bush press secretary Mindy Tucker said the governor will be making some "new policy announcements" on conservation. He will be accompanied by several Western governors.

Bush is expected to talk about how residents and local governments can address environmental problems better than the federal government, sources say.

For example, he may target Lake Tahoe where two former Republican governors -- Paul Laxalt of Nevada and Ronald Reagan of California -- built the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in the 1960s to curb runaway development.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, chairman of Bush's Nevada presidential campaign, invited Bush. Several appearances have been canceled.

The visit will give former Rep. John Ensign, the party's leading candidate for the Senate, a chance to ask Bush to clarify his stand on a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. Bush has said decisions should be based on science, not politics.

Democrats say Bush has avoided saying whether he would approve an interim dump site in Nevada and whether he would sign legislation that would weaken the health and safety standards at the repository.

Three weeks ago Ensign said he wanted to follow up on Bush's remarks and whether Bush would veto a bill similar to the one rejected recently by President Clinton.

Bush said that in Texas he adopted a "reasonable and balanced approach" on the environment.

Texas is only the third state to require pollution reductions and permits from grandfathered utilities, he said. That will reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by 50 percent and sulfur dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2003.

Manufacturing in Texas increased by 25 percent over the last decade, and the state led the nation in reducing releases and disposal of toxic waste by 44 percent from 1997 to 1998.

The governor, instead of visiting voter-rich Las Vegas, where more than 65 percent of the state's population lives, is landing in friendly Republican territory. Zephyr Cove in Douglas County has a 2-to-1 registration edge, and Sand Harbor in Washoe County has a 4-to-3 Republican ratio.

After Lake Tahoe, Bush moves on to Sacramento for a "border governors conference," Tucker said.

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