Protection of Lake Tahoe White House Statement.

Lake Tahoe is a national treasure and an area of national concern. The President believes it is critical that the environmental quality of the lake be protected.

Today, the President is taking action in three areas.

First, it is important for the Federal Government to ensure that its activities in the Lake Tahoe basin will not cause further environmental deterioration—to make sure that the Federal house is in order before making legislative demands on the State and local governments concerning Tahoe. Therefore, the President will issue an Executive order to establish a Lake Tahoe Federal Coordinating Council composed of Federal agencies with responsibilities and actions affecting the basin.

The Coordinating Council will review Federal proposals and programs which may affect the basin. Should the Council determine that a proposed action will have a significant adverse impact on the basin's environment, it will recommend to the responsible Federal agency not to approve the application or proposal. If there is disagreement, the matter will be referred to the Council on Environmental Quality for resolution.

Pending the adoption of basin environmental threshold standards, the Executive order will direct all Federal agencies to review their proposed programs and other actions which may affect the Lake Tahoe basin, and to defer action if such programs would significantly stimulate additional development in environmentally critical areas or would promote polluting auto traffic in the basin. In addition, Federal actions having potential effects on the basin's overall waste treatment plan, as required under section 208 of the Clean Water Act, should be reviewed to determine if they should be deferred until such plan is adopted by Nevada and California and has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Second, the President strongly supports and urges prompt enactment of legislation introduced by Congressmen Santini and Burton and Senators Cranston and Laxalt. This legislation provides for the sale of Federal lands near urban areas in Nevada with the bulk of the proceeds to be used as repayments of appropriations for acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands by the Secretary of Agriculture in the Lake Tahoe basin. These bills are important first-step measures and must be passed this session.

Third, the Federal Government will continue to work closely with the States and regional governments and others concerned to protect the unique qualities and environment of the Lake Tahoe basin. The President urges the States to try once again to work together to make the bi-State compact agreement effective. However, while the administration will immediately implement the announced executive actions and will support the legislation, the administration is also prepared to develop stronger legislative proposals if the current legislation and announced steps prove insufficient.