Lockyer Joins Tahoe Battle for Engine Ban

New state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, taking steps to make good on his campaign promise to enforce environmental laws, filed court papers Tuesday arguing in favor of a ban on two-stroke engines that have polluted Lake Tahoe with gasoline.

Lockyer, a Democrat, took the action on his first full day as the state’s top attorney--and he was quickly lauded by environmentalists who had endorsed his candidacy in the November election.

In the papers, Lockyer’s deputies urge that U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell allow the state attorney general to join a lawsuit defending a regulation that would ban two-stroke engines from Lake Tahoe.

The Lake Tahoe Watercraft Recreation Assn. and watercraft makers are trying to overturn the ban, which was imposed by the Lake Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in an effort to reverse the deterioration of the High Sierra lake.

Petroleum products and gasoline additives such as MTBE have been detected in the lake, and two-stroke engines are among the suspected sources of the pollution.

If Damrell grants Lockyer’s request, the attorney general’s office will help represent the regional agency. The ban is set to take effect later this year unless the regional agency loses the suit.

Lockyer’s predecessor, Republican Dan Lungren, had filed a friend of the court brief siding with the regional agency. But Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Richard Frank said Lockyer’s action Tuesday “represents a more full-scale involvement in the litigation.”

“We’re seeking to obtain full litigation status,” Frank said.

Bonnie Holmes-Gen, senior lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said she was “thrilled” by Lockyer’s move and called it a “terrific start for Lockyer as attorney general.”

“This shows that he’s going to be serious about cracking down on polluters,” Holmes-Gen said. “Lake Tahoe is a precious natural resource, and we shouldn’t be dumping millions of gallons of unburned gas and oil into it.”

Representatives of the watercraft association could not be reached. But at the regional planning agency, Executive Director Jim Baetge welcomed Lockyer’s action. “When you’re dealing with a controversial issue like this, you need all the help you can get--and the state of California is a powerful friend to have,” he said.

Baetge added that since the agency’s board adopted the ban in 1997, additional research has confirmed its findings about the engines and their effect on air and water quality.

“We are more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do,” he said, adding that the fight over the engine ban is being closely watched by jurisdictions around the country.

On Jan. 27, the Tahoe agency’s board will meet to reconsider the ban, but Baetge said no exemptions are expected: “The bottom line is, a lot of boat owners are going to have to change their engines to operate on Lake Tahoe.”

Baetge said that about 10% of boats operating with outboard engines on Tahoe will be affected by the ban. About 75% of personal motorized watercraft--such as Jet Skis--will be covered by the new regulation.

Baetge added that boat manufacturers are working on a new, cleaner fuel-injected engine that would be legal.