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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign testified in the Senate Wednesday morning in support of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2009.
The $415 million bill would provide eight years of funding for fuels reduction, environmental improvement programs, watershed restoration and storm water management. Reid is the bill's sponsor, and Ensign and California Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are cosponsors. The two gave testimony in Washington, in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs.
“This legislation does much more than carry existing programs forward,” Reid said in his testimony. “This legislation makes science a priority, calls for better management in the Lake Tahoe Basin and takes aggressive action against threats that were simply unthinkable ten years ago.”
Reid and Ensign both spoke about quagga and zebra mussels, which have entered into both the Great Lakes in Michigan and Lake Mead near Las Vegas and caused ecosystemic problems in both areas.
“Now is not the time to pull back on our commitment,” Ensign said. “We must continue to be vigilant about the threats facing the lake and the surrounding forest lands.”
Reid also praised the work local governments and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency have done in conjunction with the federal government, which began its work in the basin in 1997 at the first Lake Tahoe Summit.
“We have a partnership at Lake Tahoe that works,” he said.
Allen Biaggi, TRPA board chairman and director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the bill was important to the region.
“Recommitting to restoration efforts at Lake Tahoe is critical to the continued improvement and preservation of this special place," Biaggi said.
TRPA spokesman Dennis Oliver said the bill had large implications for the future of the Tahoe Basin. The agency hopes the bill will be authorized for eight years of funding and not simply appropriated, which would provide funding for only one year at a time, Oliver said.
“This is a big action item for Lake Tahoe,” Oliver said.
The $415 million bill would provide eight years of funding for fuels reduction, environmental improvement programs, watershed restoration and storm water management. Reid is the bill's sponsor, and Ensign and California Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are cosponsors. The two gave testimony in Washington, in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs.
“This legislation does much more than carry existing programs forward,” Reid said in his testimony. “This legislation makes science a priority, calls for better management in the Lake Tahoe Basin and takes aggressive action against threats that were simply unthinkable ten years ago.”
Reid and Ensign both spoke about quagga and zebra mussels, which have entered into both the Great Lakes in Michigan and Lake Mead near Las Vegas and caused ecosystemic problems in both areas.
“Now is not the time to pull back on our commitment,” Ensign said. “We must continue to be vigilant about the threats facing the lake and the surrounding forest lands.”
Reid also praised the work local governments and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency have done in conjunction with the federal government, which began its work in the basin in 1997 at the first Lake Tahoe Summit.
“We have a partnership at Lake Tahoe that works,” he said.
Allen Biaggi, TRPA board chairman and director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the bill was important to the region.
“Recommitting to restoration efforts at Lake Tahoe is critical to the continued improvement and preservation of this special place," Biaggi said.
TRPA spokesman Dennis Oliver said the bill had large implications for the future of the Tahoe Basin. The agency hopes the bill will be authorized for eight years of funding and not simply appropriated, which would provide funding for only one year at a time, Oliver said.
“This is a big action item for Lake Tahoe,” Oliver said.
