By Joanne S. Marchetta, Executive Director
Column Streamlining Essential to Refocusing TRPA on Regional Issues
Much is said in commentary about the complicated regulatory environment at Lake Tahoe. For decades, environmental rules here have overlaid the usual building codes for public health and safety. The reason people came together in the 1980s to establish these environmental rules, was to stop harm to Lake Tahoe’s sensitive environment. But TRPA and partner agencies discovered in the mid-1990s that regulation alone would not improve Lake Tahoe’s environment fully or fast enough. We know now, based on scientific studies, that a regulatory system that results in promoting the status quo where private properties become rundown leads to the continued degradation of the lake and our communities.