ENERGY & TRANSPORT: TAHOE LEADS USA TO NEW PARADIGM

By Gunnar L. Henrioulle

Post 911DAY, The USA is now alert to the fact that America's economy is over-dependent on imported oil, leading to serious economic vulnerability. Travel oriented Tahoe is 100% oil dependent. Enter Noblesse Obige': Tahoe Energy Leadership! The task falls to the new City Council to become world class beyond the rhetoric. Choosing a council to match the mountains.

The City Council of South Lake Tahoe must look beyond the City limits to meet the challenges facing the residents and employees of South Lake Tahoe: that is, the City must bring in visitors like never before, eliminating the 'shoulder' season, fill rooms on weekdays, and create cash flow for a sustainable visitor supported economy.

The City Government, not the TRPA, or the Forest Service, Or the League To Save Lake Tahoe; not the ski or gaming resort operators carry the responsibility for providing the vision needed to cope with post 911DAY changes in how America travels and uses energy. This is the new paradigm City Councils across the land will be coming to grips with. Few are as high profile as Tahoe, however.

The rub here is, we need to fill rooms without plugging up the place with too many cars. That is the challenge in a few words! And do so in a period of National Stress. Some background-See what the "Peak Oil" Phenomenon is about: <mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/p0070.htm> All voters share in common the fact that they require energy as a staple of life; that is why my candidacy is worthy of the most careful analysis: I will bring to the City Council a rigorous treatment of the energy issue, with the goal of insulating the Lake Tahoe Region from future energy shocks or disruptions, soon to be upon us. Maybe just a headline away....

This is not to excuse myself from carrying my share of the normal council workload, or to infer that my election would give me any special privilege or mandate. This is a team of five, and I assure you that the speed at which we five tackled the energy and transportation and creative financing approaches here espoused would be a joint effort, with work delegated among councilmembers, staff, public and private entities, pro bono participation by corporate and consulting partners. We will hear and discuss and vote each step!

But, know this too: the signs of the times are clear for all to see; we are in a state of war, will be for decades, and because Lake Tahoe has special status as a National Treasure, it falls to us here & now, to put a renewables-based economy into being with all due haste. Tahoe has at hand hydropower, geothermal steam, wind and solar in abundance.

We will make electricity from these clean sources to power ski lifts, electric railways, domestic & commercial heating and lighting. Hydrogen for vehicles & ferry boats. Access for travellers and National Energy Policy example will fill rooms and create cash flow to meet the City's needs, with surplus. More than electronic "smart transportation" window dressing. Visitor access pays for adequate convention facilities, art venues, street maintenance, and debt retirement. Salaries and benefits, too.

The City Council has determined support exists for a Fire Protection District; enactment will assure a full-service fire department with good staffing, high morale, equipped properly for accidents and medical emergencies, as well as structure or wildfire response. "State of the Art." Moreover, in the framework of this subject, will be forest management policies suitable for urban interface, as well as the remote reaches of forest. "Preventing the Big One".

The airport will be, at a minimum, a transportation hub; my intention is to move above and beyond, in fact: creating an Airport Transportation District, a Joint Powers Authority that will bring in, for example, the Truckee and Douglas County Airports, as well as cooperative planning to include the Lake Tahoe cross-lake transit component, and regional rail & bus links. The westward connection may include JPA with the El Dorado Tunnel Authority, to achieve all-weather highway/rail service via the US 50 Corridor.

Another "natural", a part of the Airport Authority, or stand-alone cash generating entity, will be Tahoe's version of Monterey's 17 mile drive: Toll section of 89 between Camp Richardson and Meek's Bay. Residents and businesses enroute will have passes. Proceeds for South Tahoe Roads & transit, for example.

We will set high goals, and find the money. We will grasp the imagination of the rest of the USA, and Federal participation will be available. The Federal leadership will be encouraged by what we accomplish at Lake Tahoe. Private Corporations, entrepreneurs, celebrities, endowments; many will line up to put their names on recreational and arts amenities. We might have had a tunnel named Clinton, under Echo; his mind was elsewhere. Who knows, maybe it will be called the Tahoe Gateway Tunnel, or the Eastwood Tunnel; we shall see. Voting is the first step.

I am not a novice in the science of transportation and logistics. I do not wish to change a very critical and timely presentation into a collection of sound bites. The above should be read over, discussed with your friends and associates, family members, classmates, teachers. You the voter will decide when to send government the message that the citizens of the USA are ready to move away from fossil fuel dependency.

This is not about eliminating personal cars; it is about finding ways of guaranteeing their continued use as part of a sustainable energy and transportation policy. Nobody wants economic collapse. This is a fear I know we share: in your heart, you know we must deal with the import fuel monster.

My first customer service experience job was in the summer of 1951, working at the snack bar at the Sacramento Music Circus. I learned how to make change, serve soft drinks, and how to respect people who came to the counter. For pay, I got to see some of the shows; I met Mitzi Gaynor & other stars of the time! (At age 9 I knew a good-looking blonde when I saw one...) Happy Customers! Isn't that what we are about at South Lake Tahoe?

Please forgive my inadequacies as they show up on the public speaking portions of this tour of duty, I stammer sometimes, but always recover, so far. See 1 Thessalonians chapt. 5, vs. 11. Encourage one another! Vote your conscience. Thank you.

Gunnar Henrioulle, Councilmember Candidate, South Lake Tahoe