President Barack Obama called Lake Tahoe a pristine environment that must be protected.
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With his second term winding to a close President Barack Obama took to the shore of Lake Tahoe to defend his legacy on environmental issues.
Obama said the visit reminded him of The Godfather II, and a scene in the film where Fredo Corleone, one of the main characters, is killed while fishing on Lake Tahoe.
“For thousands of years, this place has been a spiritual one”, Obama said in his keynote address.
That appears to be contributing to changes in Lake Tahoe’s internal physics, experts say. Obama intends to return to Tahoe as a private citizen when he leaves office after this year.
“There is no contradiction between being smart on the environment and having a strong economy, and we’ve got to keep it going”, Obama said.
Earlier in the day, the White House announced a series of new funding and environmental programs to address the deteriorating health and water quality of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding forests.
Reid says that thanks to the almost $2 billion that has been spent to reverse a loss of clarity since 1997, Lake Tahoe is now “more pristine than it has been in decades”.
In Nevada, a crucial swing state in the upcoming presidential election and home to a hotly contested Senate race, the two-hour chorus of speeches was laced with the clear message that the environmental priorities championed by Democratic leaders in Washington, California and Nevada were crucial for the nation’s future.
Reid said thanks to the almost $2 billion that has been spent to reverse a loss of clarity since 1997, Lake Tahoe is now “more pristine than it has been in decades”.
“In addition, the donation by the Water Funder Initiative foundations shows why we also need the nonprofit and philanthropic community to get involved because we can not accept the risky consequences of allowing the serious problems at the Salton Sea to become an enormous crisis”.
Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada and Dianne Feinstein of California are praising the unprecedented, bipartisan work that has been done to protect Lake Tahoe over the past two decades. Harry Reid convinced President Bill Clinton to attend the first summit.
Lake Tahoe’s loss of clarity has been fueled by housing construction, soil erosion, storm-water runoff, air pollution, automobiles and invasive aquatic species.
It was Obama’s first and last visit to Tahoe as president. Jerry Brown and Janice Schneider, assistant secretary for land and minerals management of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Congressional Republicans and the energy industry have resisted Obama’s climate plans at every step, including through numerous lawsuits and legislation that he has vetoed.
Still, Brown said that climate change continues to pose a significant threat in California and worldwide. The lake’s temperature has risen faster over the past four years than any time on record.
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After his brief stop in the desert, the president will head to lusher terrain in Honolulu, where he plans a speech to a gathering of leaders of island nations in the Pacific Ocean.
