Environmental restoration of Lake Tahoe may depend on private dollars

HOMEWOOD - State and federal money problems will make it hard to get public funding for many environmental restoration projects in the Lake Tahoe Basin, congressional delegates and state leaders said Tuesday at the 15th annual Lake Tahoe Summit.

"There's not enough funding to do anything, so we have to reorder our priorities everywhere - TRPA, Washington and Sacramento," California Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview after the event. TRPA is the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

A lack of public money could affect erosion control, fine-sediment mitigation, boat inspections for invasive species and other preventive measures meant to curtail the risk of wildfire at Lake Tahoe.

The event at Homewood Mountain Resort saw a full slate of speakers, including U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Dean Heller, R-Nev., along with Democrat Brown and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican.

The fate of the $415 million Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2011, introduced to the Senate floor again this year, is also questionable, Feinstein said in an interview.

"We have just introduced (the bill and) there has been no hearing to date," she said. "And the money is still unknown. It's about $400 million from the feds, and that looks very unrealistic."

Reid expressed dismay over the restoration act's stagnation, saying the legislation could fund the fight to keep invasive species out of Lake Tahoe.

"The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2010 ... was good legislation," the Senate majority leader said. "But, unfortunately, it never left the Senate."

All speakers talked about the need for public agencies, such as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, to work with the private sector to pay for environmental restoration projects.

"I'm asking the private sector - lakewide - to try and raise $300 million," Feinstein said. "About $270 million over the last 10 years came from the private sector, so we're asking them to increase that effort."

Sandoval said joint public-private efforts are Lake Tahoe's "best hope for making progress."

"I think the lake stands as a microcosm of the larger issues we face," Brown said in his formal remarks, adding that developers and environmentalists must find ways to work together.

Heller said the TRPA must revert to its original purpose and surrender much of its authority to the local jurisdictions that dot the shores of the lake.

"The TRPA needs to develop a set of priorities and focus on those priorities," he said.