President signs bill authorizing money for Lake Tahoe

Sandra Chereb

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 4:37 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - President Clinton on Monday signed a bill authorizing $300 million over 10 years for environmental projects to stem the decline of Lake Tahoe.

"This is an historic and landmark day for one of the environmental crown jewels of our nation," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who co-sponsored the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act in the Senate along with fellow Democrats Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan.

At Reid's urging, President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore hosted an environmental forum at Tahoe in July 1997. The summit brought national attention to the problems that threaten the Tahoe Basin's beauty and its delicate ecosystem, from erosion and air-quality concerns caused by tourism and development to insect-infested forests that ring the lake.

"We've made a lot of progress since my summit in '97," Reid said. "We made a deal there to help Nevadans and Californians to do everything we could to protect the beauty of Lake Tahoe.

"The president's signature is an important step in fulfilling that promise."

Though Congress still must appropriate money every year, Reid said the funding battle will be easier now that Congress and the president officially have endorsed the expense in separate authorizing bills.

"For many years I've had to fight for this money and it hasn't been authorized," he said. "It's a lot easier now."

A companion bill in the House was sponsored by Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., John Doolittle, R-Calif., and Robert Matsui, D-Calif.

The legislation represents the federal government's share of a $900 million effort that experts say is needed to prevent Lake Tahoe's clear, azure blue waters from turning a murky green. Once that happens, experts warn the damage will be irreversible.

The restoration act requires the U.S. Forest Service to develop a yearly priority list of environmental projects on federal lands and authorizes $200 million over 10 years to implement them. An additional $100 million is authorized to help local governments pay for erosion control.

Lake Tahoe is losing an average of a foot of clarity each year because of algae growth in its waters, largely because of development.

One test for clarity is to lower a white plate into the lake. Scientists say the plate could be seen at a depth of 105 feet in 1967 - but now disappears from view at 70 feet.

"The restoration act emphasizes at the federal level just how important the Lake Tahoe area is as a scenic and recreational resource of national significance, said Pam Drum, spokeswoman for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the bistate panel created by Congress in the 1960s to protect the lake that straddles the Nevada-California border.

"It's an important milestone. ... and a tribute to the hard work, the persistence and patience demonstrated by all the committed people at Lake Tahoe who have made this happen," Drum said.