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TRPA to Vote on Shorezone Plan This Summer
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's latest shorezone plan threatens Lake Tahoe with a host of unmitigated impacts, with additional build-out potential of up to 138 piers, 235 boat slips, six boat launching ramps, and thousands of buoys. The following are a few of our most significant concerns:

  • The rate at which TRPA is proposing to allow buoys on the Lake is unprecedented, and corresponds to a doubling of the historic average.
  • Before allowing additional buoys on the Lake, TRPA must determine which of the existing buoys are not permitted and remove all illegal buoys.
  • No new piers should be allowed in scenically sensitive areas.
  • The “Blue Boating” program lacks the necessary specificity, methods, performance standards, and regulations to actually directly mitigate the impacts of increased boat usage and associated pollution resulting from these additional structures. A typical speedboat produces 1600 times more pollutants than a Subaru!  At full build-out, the additional shorezone structures would result in over 60,000 additional boat trips per year!
  • The “Blue Boating” program needs to incorporate incentives for encouraging clean technology (such as hybrid, electric, wind, or solar powered boats) with boat sticker fees based upon both horsepower and emissions star rating, establish and enforce limits on boat pollution, and require catalytic converters (which can reduce emissions by 2/3).  The TRPA needs to advance further beyond its two-stroke engine ban.
  • Independent scientific review needs to certify the success of any mitigation program (such as the “Blue Boating” program or for fish habitat) with real time monitoring and objective analysis.  The “Blue Boating” program must demonstrate substantial quantifiable reductions in boat pollution impacts first, before new development is introduced.
  • Establish performance standards with specified threshold “triggers” for implementing pollution abatement measures.
  • When the total number of authorized buoys has been actually been determined (i.e. between 2200-3000) and mitigations have been proven successful by the scientific community, then subsequent buoy placement should proceed at a rate commensurate with the historic average and with a “go slow” annual limit.
  • The Shorezone program needs to account for climate change impacts.

Contact our office at 530-541-5388 for the most updated schedule regarding TRPA's shorezone vote and to learn how you can help.

Click here if you'd like to submit comments to the TRPA Governing Board.