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Court sidelines move to streamline regulations after Tahoe’s Angora fire
13-07-2011
Tagged Under : Angora Fire, Fire
Regulatory reform aimed at reducing fire risk at Lake Tahoe, adopted in the wake of the 2007 Angora fire, has been found in violation of state law.
The reform measure was adopted amid intense political pressure after the fire. It sought to streamline rules governing logging projects to thin overgrown forests at the lake.
But on June 30, El Dorado Superior Court Judge Steven Bailey ruled in favor of conservation groups, which argued the reforms violated key environmental laws, potentially risking Tahoe’s fabled clarity.
“We’re not attacking the thinning projects,” said Craig Thomas, executive director of Sierra Forest Legacy, which joined the Sierra Club in the lawsuit. “We’re saying we want rigorous examination of those treatments.”
The Angora fire in June 2007 destroyed 254 homes near South Lake Tahoe.
A special bistate commission appointed after the fire recommended that the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, a California state agency, hand over regulatory authority for some 68,000 acres of forest-thinning projects to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The goal was to eliminate one permitting hurdle. In an executive order, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger “strongly” encouraged Lahontan to adopt the recommendation. It did so in January 2009.
The lawsuit claimed this transfer of power was poorly studied and included no requirement to monitor effects on the environment.
The court agreed, finding Lahontan violated the California Environmental Quality Act because it failed to perform an environmental impact study. It also violated the state Water Code, which requires regulations to include monitoring to ensure compliance. Lahontan’s agreement with TRPA said nothing about monitoring.
The court has not issued a final order yet but will likely void the agreement, putting Lahontan back in charge of the permitting program.
Harold Singer, executive officer of the Lahontan agency, defended the original agreement. He said the agency awaits a final court ruling to decide what comes next.
“From our perspective, it did streamline the process and still maintained appropriate environmental protections,” Singer said.
John Upton, a former South Lake Tahoe city councilman who lost a home in the Angora fire, called the court ruling unfortunate.
“All it’s doing is creating a worse future (fire) condition, as far as I’m concerned,” said Upton, who also served on the bistate commission that recommended the reforms. “How much longer do we have to sit here in danger?”
Tahoe, like many forested areas of the West, is overgrown with small trees after a century of overzealous firefighting. There is broad recognition now that forests need to be thinned, through logging or controlled burns.
A solution is complicated at Tahoe, because erosion caused by logging could harm the lake’s famous clarity.
Thomas said he hopes for an agreement to allow streamlined permitting for some thinning projects, such as those near neighborhoods.
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