Political Quotes

“approximately 1 year ago I asked President Clinton to convene a summit on the environmental problems facing Lake Tahoe. He did convene a summit in Lake Tahoe this past Friday and Saturday. Vice President Gore and President Clinton both came to Lake Tahoe. Mr. President, Mark Twain said that Lake Tahoe is ``the fairest picture the whole Earth affords.'' I think Mark Twain was right. That beautiful lake, that is shared by the States of Nevada and California, is the fairest place in all the Earth. That beautiful piece of real estate is also shared with the Federal Government because the Federal Government owns about 75 percent of the land mass within the Tahoe basin. The reason, Mr. President, that the President was asked to come to Lake Tahoe is because that beautiful resource is in distress. Approximately 50 percent of the trees in the basin are dead or dying. Erosion is taking away the beautiful clarity of that lake. The clarity of that lake is leaving at the rate of over a foot a year because of erosion and pollutants going into that lake. Additionally, we have tremendous fear, through the whole basin, of forest fires. Lake Tahoe is clearly the crown jewel of our national treasures and it must be preserved.”