[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14615-S14616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Reid, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. 
        Bryan):
  S. 1925. A bill to promote environmental restoration around the Lake 
Tahoe basin; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


                     the lake tahoe restoration act

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, in June, joined by Senators Reid, 
Boxer, and Bryan, I introduced the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act (S. 1192) 
which would jump start the process of cleaning up Lake Tahoe.
  Lake Tahoe, one of the largest, deepest, clearest lakes in the world 
is in the midst of an economic crisis. Water clarity is declining at 
the rate of more than 1 foot each year; more than \1/3\ of the trees in 
the forest are either dead or dying; and sediment and algae-nourishing 
phosphorus and nitrogen continue to flow into the lake from a variety 
of sources.
  Over the last few months, I worked with the Congressmen from the 
Tahoe areas, Representative Doolittle and Representative Gibbons to 
craft a House version of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act that could 
garner bipartisan support. I am pleased that we've been able to build 
on S. 1192 and develop a compromise bill which I am introducing today.
  Like S. 1192, this bill first and foremost authorizes the necessary 
funding to clean up and restore Lake Tahoe. This bill includes two 
major changes:
  First, to address the problem of MTBE in the Lake Tahoe basin, I 
added a section that provides $1 million to the Tahoe Regional Planning 
Agency and local utility districts to clean up contaminated wells and 
surface water.
  Second, to help local governments who would otherwise be burdened by 
relocation costs that may be needed to clean up the basin, this bill 
promises that the federal government will pay \2/3\ of any needed 
relocation costs.
  I believe these provisions improve on the original bill and increase 
the breadth of support for this bill.
  The bill requires the Forest Service to develop an annual priority 
list of environmental restoration projects and authorizes $200 million 
dollars over 10 years to the forest service to implement these projects 
on federal lands. The list must include projects that will improve 
water quality, forest health, soil conservation, air quality, and fish 
and wildlife habitat around the lake.
  In developing the environmental restoration priority list, the Forest 
Service must rely on the best available science, and consider projects 
that local governments, businesses, and environmental groups have 
targeted as top priorities. The Forest Service also must consult with 
local community leaders.
  The bill requires the Forest Service to give special attention on its 
priority list to five key activities: acquisition of environmentally 
sensitive land from willing sellers, erosion and sediment control, fire 
risk reduction, cleaning up MTBE contamination, and traffic and parking 
management, including promotion of public transportation.
  The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act also requires that an additional $100 
million be authorized over 10 years be as payments to local governments 
for erosion

[[Page S14616]]

control activities on non-federal lands. These payments will help local 
governments conduct soil conservation and erosion mitigation projects, 
restore wetlands and stream environmental zones, and plant native 
vegetation to filter out sediment and debris.
  I spent my childhood at Lake Tahoe, but I had not been back for a 
number of years until I returned for the 1997 Presidential summit with 
President Clinton. I saw things I had never seen before at Lake Tahoe.
  I saw the penetration of MTBE in the water and learned that 30 
percent of the South Lake Tahoe water supply has been eliminated by 
MTBE. I observed gasoline spread over the water surface. I noticed that 
a third of the magnificent forest that surrounds the lake was dead or 
dying. I saw major land erosion problems that were bringing all kinds 
of sediment into the lake and which had effectively cut the lake's 
clarity by thirty feet since the last time I had visited. And then I 
learned that the experts believe that in 10 years the clouding of the 
amazing crystal water clarity would be impossible to reverse and in 30 
years it would be lost forever.

  The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency estimates that it will cost $900 
million over the next 10 years to restore the Lake.
  For me, that was a call to action and prompted me to sponsor this 
bill which will authorize $300 million of Federal moneys on a matching 
basis over 10 years for environmental restoration projects at Lake 
Tahoe to preserve the region's water quality and forest health. Put 
simply, this crown jewel deserves the attention, and the fact that the 
federal government owns 77 percent of that troubled area makes the 
responsibility all so clear.
  Through funding over the past few years we have already begun to make 
some early strides such as the purchase of important pieces of land 
like the Sunset Ranch and the planning for a Coordinated Transit 
System.
  Already, California and Nevada have begun contributing their portion 
of the restoration efforts.
  California is in the second year of a ten year $275 million 
commitment through the California Tahoe Conservancy, Caltrans, and the 
Parks Service.
  Nevada has authorized the issuance of bonds that will constitute an 
$82 million contribution over an 8-year period.
  Local governments and private industry have also agreed to commit 
$300 million. The Tahoe Transportation and Water Quality Coalition, a 
coalition of 18 businesses and environmental groups, including Placer 
County, El Dorado County, the city of South Lake Tahoe, Douglass County 
in Nevada, and Washoe County in Nevada have all agreed. This is an 
extraordinary commitment for a region with only 50,000 year-round 
residents.
  President Clinton took an important first step in 1997 when he held 
an environmental summit at Lake Tahoe and promised $50 million over 2 
years for restoration activities around the lake. Unfortunately, the 
President's commitments lasted for only 2 years, so important areas 
like land acquisition and road decommissioning were not funded at the 
levels the President tried to accomplish. What is needed is a more 
sustained, long-term effort, and one that will meet the federal 
government's $300 million responsibility to save the environment at 
Lake Tahoe.
  The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act will build upon the President's 
commitment to Lake Tahoe and authorize full funding for a new 
environmental restoration program at the lake.
  I am also grateful to the Lake Tahoe Transportation and Water Quality 
Coalition, a local consensus group of 18 businesses and environmental 
groups, who has worked extremely hard on this bill.
  Thanks in large part to their work, the bill has strong, bipartisan 
support from nearly every major group in the Tahoe Basin.
  The bottom line is that time is running out for Lake Tahoe. We have 
10 years to do something major or the water quality deterioration is 
irreversible.
  I am hopeful that Congress will move quickly to consider the Lake 
Tahoe Restoration Act. I urge my colleagues to join Senator Reid, 
Senator Boxer, Senator Bryan, Congressman Doolittle, Congressman 
Gibbons, Congresswoman Eshoo, and me in preserving this national 
treasure for generations to come.
                                 ______