Senator Feinstein and Governor Schwarzenegger, I am looking forward to hearing you on August 16. I approve and applaud your dedication and efforts related to the ‘restoration’ of Lake Tahoe. Federal and State funding is sorely needed for the research required to understand and measure the critical environmental parameters involved.
However, I am concerned that the local agencies, businesses and much of the public have chosen to interpret your sponsorship of the ‘restoration’ funding as approval to continue, and even increase, the environmental degradation of the region. The concept of Tahoe’s ‘establishment’ appears to be: ‘It is okay to pollute, the State and Feds are giving us money to clean it up.’
Unfortunately, in spite of the ‘Tahoe Summit’ funding being provided for many years, very little progress, if any, in actual ‘restoration’ has occurred. In my opinion, this is because TRPA and other agencies have chosen to view the ‘Tahoe Summit’ funding not as a mandate to significantly reduce the rate of environmental degradation, but as permission to continue to expand tourism and growth.
I do not believe your personal objectives are compatible with the philosophy of growth that is heedless of the consequences of environmental damage. I hope you will assure that adequate conditions are attached to any new funding that will guarantee that priorities to control the sources of pollution are more strictly controlled.
