Obama, fuels reduction funding may highlight Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit
Updated: Aug. 8 to reflect President Obama is definitely attending.
By Kathryn Reed
Protecting Lake Tahoe has been on the radar of the federal government for decades – and not just because the feds own 85 percent of the land in the basin. Congress implemented regulations mandating effluent be pumped out of the basin, created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and funded the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act after President Bill Clinton’s visit in 1997.
The EIP – environmental improvement program – was established after the inaugural Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit when Clinton and Vice President Al Gore launched the annual event.
With this being the 20th anniversary of the summit and its being Sen. Harry Reid’s last one, it is being hailed as a bigger deal than the ones in recent years. Reid, D-Nev., is hosting the summit at Harveys in Stateline on Aug. 31 at 2pm.
New this year is that it costs to attend the event. Tickets are available online.
The Killers, the group that performs Nevada’s tourism theme song, will be putting on a concert for attendees.
President Obama will be attending. Those close to the event are hoping he’ll bring news that the basin has been awarded the $29,499,942 for fuels reduction from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act.
The White House has contacted Lake Tahoe Airport about Air Force One landing there.
Source: BLM
SNPLMA was created in 1998. Land the federal government no longer wants in the Las Vegas Valley is sold, with the proceeds going to public entities. The Lake Tahoe Basin has received more than $300 million of these proceeds for environmental improvement program projects.
The Bureau of Land Management, which handles SNPLMA money, did not return a call asking when a decision will be made about this 16th round of funding. The comment period on allocations ended July 28.
The preliminary recommendation is for eight of the 10 funding requests to be filled. Though the sales are in Nevada, money can be spent in California in the basin. Of the nearly $30 million that would be just for forest fuels reduction, about $2 million is allocated to Carson City and the remainder in the Tahoe area.