Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Turn of the Tide at Lake Tahoe?

Earlier this week, Senator Dean Heller's office announced the 16th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit happening August 13 in Stateline. There will certainly be plenty to talk about this year. Climate change certainly poses a greater risk to the region than ever seen before. And in case that isn't enough to tackle at this year's summit, there's another issue that may just rise back to the surface.

Last year, we saw the passage of SB 271, which is also known as "The Trash Tahoe Bill". Why? Oh, it just endangers the entire ecosystem of the region just to enrich "juiced up" corporate developers and pay back political favors.

The bill was originally authored by John Lee. Oh yes, you heard me right. John Lee made SB 271 happen.

But now, all of a sudden, John Lee is no longer in the picture. And to complicate matters further, California has refused to agree to the terms of SB 271. And without agreement from California, there can be no agreement on a badly needed and much delayed new Tahoe Compact to guide future development.

So all of this just barely lies beneath the surface now, but may just end up at the forefront once the Tahoe Summit begins. Climate change has already become a serious problem for Lake Tahoe, and the continuation of SB 271 further imperils the lake. Perhaps Dean Heller had something else in mind when he announced this year's summit, but it looks like we'll have a real opportunity this month to discuss the serious issues affecting the future of Lake Tahoe... And the recent turn of events has made this more possible than ever before.

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