Stop Tahoe’s Lurking Murk

The crystal clarity of Lake Tahoe is doomed without swift action; the blue Sierra Nevada lake will turn a murky green within the next 30 years, and the process may be irreversible. That’s the conclusion of a Lake Tahoe watershed assessment ordered by President Clinton two years ago and issued recently by a team of federal officials and university scientists.

There have been Tahoe summit meetings, scientific studies and warnings about algae for the past 35 years. But none had the urgency of this report, which concluded: “Time is short. Lake Tahoe is gravely imperiled.” There must be significant reduction of pollution within the next 10 years if there is any hope of reversing the degradation.

The watershed study sprung from a Tahoe summit attended by Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and the governors of California and Nevada. They pledged a $900-million program, one-third each from federal, state and local governments. So far, California has contributed $48 million, and Gov. Gray Davis proposed an additional $19.5 million in his 2000-01 budget.

Washington has been reluctant to cough up its share, but California’s Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer propose in their Senate Bill 1925 that the federal government pay up its $300 million. The Clinton administration, which wants an environmental legacy, would do well to help it win congressional passage.