Sale of public land may aid Lake Tahoe

Cy Ryan and Erin Neff

Monday, Aug. 11, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Money from the sale of public lands in Clark County would be used to preserve Lake Tahoe on the Nevada-California border under a plan unveiled today by Nevada's congressional delegation.

The federal legislation, to be introduced later this year, would send an estimated $30 million a year to Lake Tahoe to fulfill the promise of the federal government to protect the water and ecology of the lake.

Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev. and Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., released the proposal at a press conference at Sand Harbor at the lake. Others attending were Gov. Kenny Guinn and Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Rebecca Watson of the Department of Interior.

"This program is very creative and historic and is to secure the protection of one of the most beautiful areas on earth," said Ensign. "Our goal is to make sure the federal government fulfills its commitment to Lake Tahoe."

But those in Clark County viewed the proposal with a skeptical eye.

"My general feeling is those monies that are raised in Clark County should be spent in Clark County," said Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury. "We have many needs here in terms of sensitive environmental projects and enhancing recreational opportunities."

Woodbury said that while he believed Lake Tahoe is a national treasure that should be protected, he is not sure the proposal is the right way to go.

Commissioner Myrna Williams immediately expressed opposition to the plan, saying federal delegates simply "look at Clark County's public lands like it's general fund money that can be splashed around."

"We are understaffed in a lot of programs essential for health and welfare and public safety," Williams said. "And we have our own environmental projects that need support -- projects like the Las Vegas Preserve and the Wetlands."

Protection of the lake has been an environmental siren song for years.

Former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore visited the lake in 1997 and signed an executive order to protect the natural resources in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Later that year federal, state and local governments entered into a plan to spend an estimated $908 million over a ten-year period.

The federal share was $300 million. But the government has been unable to meet its commitment because of what the congressional delegation called "fluctuating year-to-year budgets."

Ensign and Reid said they will be joined by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, to lock in the funding for the next 10 years. The money will come from present and future Bureau of Land Management surplus land auctions in Las Vegas.

Porter and Reps. Jim Gibbons D-Nev. and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., will shepherd the legislation through the house, said a spokesman for Ensign.

Currently these funds from land sales are used for Nevada's general education, parks, trails and acquisition of environmentally sensitive land in Nevada. The most recent auction of 995 acres in Southern Nevada brought in $232 million.

Since the passage of the Southern Nevada Land act, 13 auctions of federal land have brought in $566 million.

Ensign said this new legislation, to be prepared when Congress reconvenes later this year, builds on the 1980 Santini-Burton Act. That act authorized money from Las Vegas land sales and leases for land acquisition in the Tahoe Basin.

In 1996 Nevada voters approved a bond issue of $20 million to control erosion and restore the waterways at Lake Tahoe. The Legislature in 1999 authorized $53.2 million in bonds for Tahoe. All tolled, Nevada has committed $82 million to preservation of the lake.

California committed to provide $275.1 million.