Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada hosted the event, which also included appearances from fellow Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California – as well as a musical appearance by rock group The Killers. Jerry Brown, who he said has been working on environmental causes since the 1970s, adding Brown and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval worked together to strengthen the bi-state compact that governs the basin. During Wednesday’s remarks Obama said humans are to blame for the change our climate has experienced. The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, is spending a smaller sum to improve the quality of the lake’s water by managing and reducing stormwater runoff in the region. A major tourist attraction along with the area’s casinos and ski resorts, the lake has been a major source of concern for environmentalists for decades, as underwater visibility began sharply receding.
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Scientists are anxious about the loss of clarity in the alpine lake caused by a wide variety of factors over past half-century, including housing construction, storm-water runoff, automobiles and aquatic species.
“For 14 months in a row now the Earth has broken global temperature records, Lake Tahoe’s average temperature is rising at its fastest rate ever and its temperature is the warmest on record”.
“We’ve noticed the clarity of our lake going down”, said attendee Rayna Currier.
Obama’s admiration for the scenery served to underscore the risks he outlined that climate change and the drought pose to the region.
Obama said that major investments in clean energy like those in the Recovery Act, along with carbon rules for cars, trucks and power plants, have reduced the costs of clean energy, created jobs and reduced energy bills. Obama Commutes Sentences of 111 Federal Inmates Obama Says “We Are Not as Divided as We Seem” at Dallas Memorial for Slain Officers Appearing a. Almost 20 years later – and after years of failed efforts to renew funding – environmentalists held out hope that Obama’s visit could nudge Congress closer to approving more than $400 million for ongoing restoration and wildfire-prevention projects in the area.
It was the president’s first trip to what he called a “spectacular” lake.
Later Wednesday, Obama was set to travel to his native state of Hawaii to address leaders from the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders and the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
To that end, Obama on Thursday planned an unusual presidential visit to Midway Atoll, a speck of land halfway between Asia and North America.
The tour leads up to a meeting in China on Saturday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is hosting the G20 group of leading economies.
Obama and Xi worked together previous year to secure a global deal in Paris to cut carbon emissions and are expected to take the next steps soon to help bring the agreement into force.
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Before returning to Washington, Obama also was to become the first sitting president to visit Laos. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Forest Service report found more than 60 million trees in the Sierra Nevada either dead or dying.
