Summit: More money for basin

Click to Enlarge Bonanza News Service File Photo U.S. sens. John Ensign, Dianne Feinstein and Steve Johnson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, respond to reporters' questions at the Tahoe Summit at Tahoe City's Commons Beach last summer. Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

Amanda Fehd
bonanza news service
August 9, 2006

Lawmakers will likely announce how much federal money is headed for Lake Tahoe restoration efforts for 2007 at an annual environmental summit tomorrow at Sand Harbor.

Inaugurated in 1997 by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, the summit has become an annual event to discuss progress and further conservation goals in the region.

Senators John Ensign, R-Nev., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., will host this year's event, which is expected to focus on fire prevention and water quality protection efforts.

Congressman John Doolittle, R-Calif., Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, and Congressman Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., are also expected to attend. The event is open to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are required.

Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne will likely bring news about how much money from sales of public land in Southern Nevada will come to Tahoe in 2007 officials said.

In the past, the Interior Department has allotted around $35 million per year from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. .

"We are expecting a significant increase (in funds from the act) will be dedicated to fire prevention" said Rex Norman, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. "We are going to get a record number of dollars to tackle that problem."

The Southern Nevada funds came under scrutiny last year from the Bush Administration as a possible solution to the federal budget deficit. Ensign and Reid successfully defended the act, which guaranteed most of the money would return to Nevada for restoration efforts.

On Thursday, officials are also expected to review the accomplishments of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program, which is a 10-year, $1.2 billion-dollar program launched by the first summit in 1997.

So far, $512 million has been spent on 269 public improvement projects and 9,100 private parcel projects, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The projects have focused on improving water quality and erosion control, air quality, recreation, wildlife habitat and scenic areas agency officials said.

Placer County Supervisor Bruce Kranz will give a presentation on the challenges and benefits of using forest debris in biomass energy generators as an option in fire prevention.

Forest service officials have said effective fire prevention with biomass technology is at least 10 years away, and could require building hundreds of miles of roads in sensitive or steep areas.