Growth and Clear Water

The future of Lake Tahoe for this and many generations to come may rest on the approaching culmination of a bitter political and legal battle.

Nevada is threatening to withdraw from the California-Nevada planning compact that for years was hailed as the solution to Tahoe’s fight against overdevelopment. Should that happen, three decades of work to manage growth in the Sierra lake basin could unravel overnight. This time, surely, the sparkle that makes Lake Tahoe one of the world’s environmental jewels will be lost.

The word “crisis” has become almost synonymous with Lake Tahoe over the years. But the evidence is there. The green slime of algae now covers submerged rocks that were clear of any vegetation just a few years ago. The Tahoe Research Group has documented the unremitting progress of eutrophication and the loss of the lake’s unique clarity. Charles R. Goldman, the group director, reported last year: “What is not generally realized is that Tahoe is now losing this transparency at a steady and predictable rate.”

Several events precipitated the current crisis.

In early 1984 the 14-member, two-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency finally agreed on a new plan to limit future growth in the 500-square-mile Sierra basin. Its implementation would have ended an interim building moratorium and presumably preserved what is left of the basin’s natural environment.

But the plan was challenged in federal court by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp as far too development-oriented and failing to live up to the mandate of the congressionally sanctioned compact. They persuaded U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Garcia in Sacramento that to allow the plan to go into effect would result, as Garcia ruled, in “irreparable disturbance and resulting deterioration of the unique environmental and ecological qualities of the region.” The building moratorium continues pending resolution of the lawsuit.

Now the league and Van de Kamp’s office have negotiated a proposed settlement with the regional planning agency that would significantly strengthen the Tahoe regional plan by banning new homes and other development in very sensitive areas, such as steep slopes, and strictly limiting construction elsewhere.

The construction freeze has left thousands of irate Tahoe lot owners in limbo. They have had to delay construction of planned homes. If the agreement is approved, they may not be able to build at all. The moratorium has resulted in intense political pressure on Nevada politicians to scuttle the bi-state compact altogether. A pullout bill has passed the Nevada Assembly, and has enough votes to win Senate approval and possibly an overriding of Gov. Richard H. Bryan’s threatened veto.

There is a way out. The league and the attorney general’s office probably would drop the legal action if the regional agency adopts the agreement, possibly with some easing of the tight limit on the number of new homes. In turn, the plaintiffs would receive some assurance that the regional plan would be safeguarded against future political assaults and that Nevada would promote a bond issue to buy out lot owners who don’t want to pursue the gamble of being able to build. A buy-out program is getting under way in California with $85 million in voter-approved bond funds.

Such a compromise almost certainly would win enough Nevada votes on the agency board to pass. But there is a question about Gov. George Deukmejian’s more development-prone appointees who are considered the likely swing votes.

Van de Kamp, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Nevada’s Gov. Bryan deserve particular credit for fighting to maintain the integrity of the Tahoe planning process. The frustrated property owners who no longer want to build deserve to be compensated, and adequately. Deukmejian should be encouraged to support the agreement that may go to an agency vote on April 24.

It is essential that the Tahoe compact survive. This, indeed, may be the very last chance for any political action to prevent Tahoe from becoming just another polluted mountain lake.