Federal Suit Claims New Regulations Will Harm Lake Tahoe
LAKE TAHOE (CBS/AP) - Conservationists at Lake Tahoe are suing over new regulatory changes they say will erode environmental protection of the mountain lake by allowing for construction of bigger buildings near the shore and failing to adequately monitor water quality.
The Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Monday challenging rules the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency adopted in December.
The suit says the changes would allow local governments around the lake to adopt weakened pollution controls that don't meet minimum standards set by the bistate panel that Congress authorized in 1980.
Among other things, the new rules double building height limits from three stories to six stories just west of the Stateline casino district across the California line in South Lake Tahoe.
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