Settlement hopes are still alive between the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
and the plaintiffs suing the regulatory body for banning certain motorized
watercraft from Lake Tahoe.
Negotiations between the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the plaintiffs
suing the agency for banning certain motorized watercraft from Lake Tahoe
seemed to grind to a halt last month when no agreement could be reached. At
its February meeting, the agency's governing board agreed to a three year
extension on the use of two-stroke engines used as auxiliary power for
sailboats. Because the mitigation package before them was unacceptable,
however, the board members would not grant any other extensions. The board
also said it would not look at the issue again unless the agency counsel and
the plaintiff's attorneys agreed on a mitigation package.
It looks like that has happened.
What is happening this summer is a prohibition of all watercraft powered by
two-stroke engines, with a few exceptions. The ban essentially eliminates
carbureted two-stroke engines, which power most Jet Skis and personal
watercraft and are considered to cause significantly more pollution to the
lake than other engine types.
Only a couple models of personal watercraft--Polaris Genesis and Arctic Cat
Tigershark--will be available this summer for use on Lake Tahoe.
Another type of craft, a Bombardier Sea-Doo, has been exempted for three
years. The agency considered it a loophole in the original ordinance; while
cleaner than carbureted two-stroke motors, it is still not clean enough,
according to the agency.
The suit's plaintiffs want two more extensions. One would exempt any
watercraft powered by a two-stroke engine of 10 horsepower or less until
October 2001.
The other would allow one type of craft--a Yamaha using a catalytic converter
to make it cleaner-burning than other carbureted two-stroke engines--to be
used for three more years.
The ban goes into effect June 1. Despite the approaching deadline, Drum (the
spokesperson for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency) said the agency will do
everything in its power to make sure the public understands the ordinance by
summer.
"We'll do everything we can to get the word out to the region," she said.
"We'll also do everything we can to get the word our to people outside the
region. Before people drive their boats up here, we want them to know whether
(their boats are) legal or not."
Soooo--
That's the guts of the article. If you have a little trouble making sense out
of it, don't feel like the Lone Ranger. It sometimes appears the bi-state
congressional agency, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, feels that if they
can confuse us enough with rhetoric, we might feel as though they are actually
doing something. I am certain that many within the agency, including their
spokesperson, Pam Drum, go to sleep at night saying to themselves, "What in
the hell did I just say today?" Personally I don't think there's an answer to
that question.
Geoff
P-15 Lollipop
No. Lake Tahoe, NV
PS If you care about which weekend in August we have our Lake Tahoe sail and
you have not yet let me know, please do so. The weekend which suits the most
sailors and their families will be the weekend of our gathering. Please don't
worry about this two stroke ban. We will have our gathering nonetheless. As a
group we will have no problem getting to and from the area at which we will be
camping. So, don't pop your rivets!