[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8207-S8208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LAKE TAHOE PRESIDENTIAL FORUM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, approximately 1 year ago I asked President 
Clinton to convene a summit on the environmental problems facing Lake 
Tahoe. He did convene a summit in Lake Tahoe this past Friday and 
Saturday. Vice President Gore and President Clinton both came to Lake 
Tahoe.
  Mr. President, Mark Twain said that Lake Tahoe is ``the fairest 
picture the

[[Page S8208]]

whole Earth affords.'' I think Mark Twain was right. That beautiful 
lake, that is shared by the States of Nevada and California, is the 
fairest place in all the Earth.
  That beautiful piece of real estate is also shared with the Federal 
Government because the Federal Government owns about 75 percent of the 
land mass within the Tahoe basin.
  The reason, Mr. President, that the President was asked to come to 
Lake Tahoe is because that beautiful resource is in distress. 
Approximately 50 percent of the trees in the basin are dead or dying. 
Erosion is taking away the beautiful clarity of that lake. The clarity 
of that lake is leaving at the rate of over a foot a year because of 
erosion and pollutants going into that lake. Additionally, we have 
tremendous fear, through the whole basin, of forest fires.
  Lake Tahoe is clearly the crown jewel of our national treasures and 
it must be preserved.
  Mr. President, we should all be proud of what took place there these 
past several months. The planning and execution of the summit involved 
over 1,000 local people. We had four Cabinet officers who came to the 
area on more than one occasion. The workshops and the forums that were 
held prepared the Vice President and the President for their visits. It 
was not the result of the President coming and saying, ``Here's what we 
are going to do.''
  In fact, what the President decided to do was based upon what the 
thousand people said should be done. It was not possible to determine 
who was speaking, whether it was an environmentalist, an owner of a 
business in the area, or a local government official. They were all 
speaking as if they were singing from the same sheet of music.
  In fact, the President said that one of the most remarkable things is 
that this summit, this Presidential forum set the pattern of how 
disputes should be resolved all around the world, not only in our own 
country, because he felt that people joined together for a common cause 
and decided that the environment could be taken care of and the economy 
could still grow. The people said that unanimously. At Lake Tahoe, 
there is no false choice between the economy and the environment. Each 
depends upon the other.
  The people of the Tahoe Basin and the States of California and Nevada 
agree that something must be done. They asked for a partnership with 
the Federal Government, and they got that partnership.
  Holding such a forum at this time is critical: If we continue our 
current path for another 10 years, the damage already done would become 
irreversible. If we continue on our current path for 30 years, Lake 
Tahoe will be no better than any other lake. It will be just an average 
lake. This would be devastating to the people of this country.
  Lake Tahoe is not just another lake and we must not let it become 
one.
  We have tens of millions of visitors each year that visit the lake. 
We can no longer let the lake be treated the way it has been in the 
past. History will not be kind to us if we let this jewel slip away. We 
have been given a gift, and we must provide adequate stewardship over 
this gift.
  I have indicated that 75 percent of the land in the basin is 
federally owned. There is a Federal responsibility to do our share.
  Mr. President, when the President came, he not only acknowledged that 
there was a problem with the lake, but this was more than a photo 
opportunity. The President came and signed an Executive order 
indicating that all Federal agencies would have to work together to 
save the lake.
  The first chairman of the Federal task force is Secretary Glickman. 
The first work being done as a result of the President's visit started 
yesterday. Some of the things being done I think are significant. I am 
not going to mention the 28 different action items that the President 
initiated that have dollar signs attached to them, but it is about $50 
million worth over two years, a doubling of the current effort.
  One of the things that so impressed me is that the President said 
that this year 29 miles of old logging roads will be obliterated. Some 
of the roads have been in existence for more than 100 years going back 
to the days of the Comstock when they took away all the forests in the 
area to satisfy the voracious appetite of the mines in the Virginia 
City area. After 10 years, all the old roads will be gone. These roads 
have added significantly to the erosion that has taken place in that 
lake over these many years.
  In addition to that, Mr. President, there will be work done on 
watershed assessments so that people will understand what we are 
dealing with there. Two million dollars will be used to clear dead 
brush and deadwood from the more than 3,500 federally owned lots. These 
lots have been purchased as a result of Federal lands being sold 500 
miles away in the Las Vegas area. These lots now need to be cleaned up. 
As a result of the action of the President, they will be cleaned up.
  The Forest Service also, Mr. President, will begin a program 
immediately of prescribed burns. We spend about $1 billion a year 
fighting fires in this Nation. We are now going to spend part of these 
moneys starting controlled fires. It is the only way that that forest 
around Lake Tahoe can be regenerated and made safe. In the past we have 
burned about 100 to 200 acres a year. This will be an increase of up to 
1,000 acres a year which will be burned carefully and on purpose.
  The Forest Service will also use prescribed fires, and other means, 
to reduce fuels on another 4,000 acres per year. This will be 4,000 
acres a year that will become a much better, safer place.
  Mr. President, the work that was done these past 3 months is 
something that I think we should all be proud of. It shows that the 
Federal Government can work with State and local governments in a 
nonadversarial way. I think what took place here is an indication of 
what can take place in the future in other areas around the country.
  It is possible, I repeat, that you can grow the economy and protect 
and preserve the environment, as indicated with the work that has taken 
place in the Lake Tahoe area during the last 3 months. Lake Tahoe and 
the area around there is only 26 percent registered Democrats. But it 
was impossible to determine, these past 3 months, who was a Democrat 
and who was a Republican. Everyone joined together to recognize that 
this great lake is in trouble and that we all need to work together--a 
Democratic President and a Republican Congress.
  I hope, Mr. President, that the American people realize that we can 
work together, as indicated by the budget agreement that has been 
worked out around here these past few weeks, and that we can work 
together on difficult problems, not only environmental problems, but 
economic problems.
  So, I'm very happy that the President accepted my invitation to come 
to Lake Tahoe. I think that his coming there was a home run for the 
economy and the environment and government in general.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.
  Mr. DORGAN. Thank you, Mr. President.

                          ____________________