Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. I rise in support of S. 612, the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act introduced by my colleague from Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act is a bicameral, bipartisan effort to continue the tremendous work being completed in California and Nevada for a variety of landscape restoration and resiliency projects.

The waters of Lake Tahoe are among some of the clearest in the world, and the basin is home to wetlands, swamps, deepwater habitat, aspen stands, forests, and meadows that support more than 1,300 species of plants and animals. Tahoe is a natural phenomenon. The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act passed in 2000 in a community effort to preserve and protect the landscape and economy of the basin.

With it came an authorization of $300 million for 10 years and eventually $415 million after reauthorization in 2016. Investments made by the Federal Government have leveraged $500 million in State, local, Tribal, and private matching funds. It also supports an average of 1,700 jobs a year.

Now it is time for us to continue that commitment to protecting the alpine lake landscape.

The work being completed throughout the Lake Tahoe basin exemplifies the value of both targeted Federal investments and community collaboration in forest and landscape management.

In the 1990s, leaders in the basin came together to form a collaborative cross-boundary program known as the Environmental Improvement Program. The EIP has become a model for collaborative conservation.

Overall, ecosystem restoration and management in the Lake Tahoe basin demonstrate how collaboration, partnerships, and dedicated funding for shared goals can yield measurable results.

In the Federal Lands Subcommittee last week, Ms. Regan, the executive director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, said that the Tahoe model works because it is able to bring together the Federal and private funding and community consent in a mosaic of governance.

This legislation will continue that important work.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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