Closing to motorboats one day a weekend, not a bad idea for other
places. But they are already complaining. Well, the happy polluting
family can alway get their big fat arse on a kayak...


Rough water ahead for motorboats

Amanda Fehd
June 22, 2005
A proposal to close Emerald Bay to private motorboats for one day each
weekend in July and August because of exhaust pollution has boating
enthusiasts asking a lot of questions.

The plan is part of shorezone requirements that have been 15 years in
the making by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which regulates
environmental policies at the lake.

Largely overlooked, the issue could become more controversial as the
agency prepares to approve its final shorezone regulation - a decision
repeatedly delayed because there hasn't been consensus.

Research has found high levels of exhaust pollution in the bay - the
same pollution that significantly decreased in other areas of the lake
after the agency banned two-stroke engines in 1998.

Emerald Bay has become a hot spot of carcinogens and mutagens produced
by fuel combustion, said Colleen Shade, chief of the planning and
evaluation team for the agency.

The watercraft community sees the move as another means to chip away at
the rights of boaters on the lake, who fought a long battle when the
ban on two-stroke engines was proposed and eventually passed.

"The theory in the boating community is that they hope to eventually
ban power boats altogether in Lake Tahoe," said Ron Williams, owner of
a 76-fleet power boat rental company, Tahoe Keys Boat Rental. He spent
$200,000 converting his jet ski inventory to four stroke when the
two-stroke ban took place.

Agency spokeswoman Julie Regan acknowledged there is a demand for areas
in the lake to be non-motorized, but said the "TRPA has no interest in
banning all motorized watercraft on the lake.

"We understand that boating has an important history here, and that
it's always been a part of life on Lake Tahoe."

But Williams said he's starting to see a pattern in how the agency
handles problems.

"The TRPA likes to arbitrarily take away rights from the citizens and
the community and a lot of times, they come up with these half-baked
ideas," Williams said.

"Rights come with responsibility," said Regan. "We have a duty to
encourage recreation that is environmentally sustainable. You can love
a place (like Emerald Bay) to death. You can ruin a resource if you
don't manage it correctly."

Tour boats such as the M.S. Dixie would still have free reign in the
bay under the proposals. The paddlewheelers are already heavily
monitored, said Regan. In addition, the closure would not affect
canoes, kayaks, and sailboats.

Implementation is a long way off, said Regan. The TRPA Governing Board
would have to vote on the document and the earliest pilot project would
be next summer.

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/art...News/106220028

Here's a shark that ignores RECYCLING, and thus the need for a clean
community. Well, a filthy jungle is not his concern. It reminds me of
Jacques Cousteau's words: "Living like rats it's not my idea of life."

There's also good news, I mean on a small scale...

"Ten states across America already achieve an 80 percent recycling rate
for bottles and cans by requiring a refundable deposit on beverage
containers. The key to increase recycling on a national basis is
providing appropriate financial incentives," Woodall said.


Pepsi 'Broke Recycling Promise'
GrassRoots Recycling Network 27apr01
Shareholder Resolution Focuses Attention on Pepsi's Bottle and Can
Waste

ATLANTA, GA - PepsiCo Inc. (Ticker: PEP) broke its 1990 promise to make
soda bottles with 25 percent recycled plastic and the company has spent
millions of dollars lobbying against recycling legislation,
environmental leaders said today.

"More than 1.6 million Pepsi soda bottles and cans are thrown away
every hour in the United States. In one day, more than 40 million Pepsi
soft drink containers become litter or get sent to landfills and
incinerators," said Bill Sheehan, national network coordinator for the
Athens, Georgia-based GrassRoots Recycling Network.

"It's time for Pepsi to take responsibility for wasting billions of
beverage containers each year. We urge Pepsi shareholders to vote for
the recycling proposal, proxy item Number 6, at the annual shareholder
meeting in Dallas, Texas on May 2," Sheehan said.

PepsiCo is the nation's second largest beverage maker. PepsiCo
shareholders can vote via the Internet for the recycling proposal by
going to the GrassRoots Recycling Network web site, at www.grrn.org .

"We have targeted Pepsi for several reasons. First, because Pepsi broke
its 1990 promise to use recycled plastic in making new soda bottles.
Second, because the company increasingly relies on throwaway plastic
bottles, and three out of four end up in landfills or incinerators.
Third, because Pepsi has spent millions of dollars to defeat the most
effective beverage container recycling laws in the nation - bottle
bills," said Lance King, a spokesman for environmental groups
supporting the shareholder resolution.

Walden Asset Management of Boston, and Domini Social Investments of New
York, which together own $20 million worth of PepsiCo stock, submitted
the shareholder resolution. The non- binding resolution calls for
PepsiCo to meet two specific recycling goals by January 1, 2005:

* Make Pepsi plastic bottles with 25 percent recycled plastic; and *
Achieve an 80 percent national recycling rate for bottles and cans.

The PepsiCo recycling resolution is similar to one introduced at the
April 18 Coke shareholder meeting. That proposal received 5.2% 'Yes"
votes, representing 88.9 million shares worth more than $4 billion.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola both promised in 1990 to use 25% recycled plastic
in their plastic bottles. Coke recently started using a small amount of
recycled plastic in the United States, and CEO Doug Daft announced at
the April 18 meeting that Coke has set a 10% recycled content goal by
2005 for their plastic bottles.

Environmental groups led by the GrassRoots Recycling Network have waged
a four-year campaign targeting Coca-Cola to take responsibility for
rising beverage container waste and declining recycling rates.
"Coke has been the focus of our campaign because they are the market
leader, with 44% of the U.S. soft drink market. Pepsi, with 31% market
share, has done nothing. Pepsi has gotten a free ride. But that is
about to change," said Sheehan.
"Plastics are now the largest portion of beverage container waste in
the United States.," Pat Franklin, executive director of the Arlington,
Virginia-based Container Recycling Institute said. "Beverage container
waste increased more than 50 percent from 1992 to 1999. Pepsi is a big
part of the problem."

"Pepsi needs to take responsibility for its bottle and can waste.
Throwing away billions of bottles and cans every year burdens local
government and taxpayers with clean-up costs, pollutes the environment,
and squanders valuable energy needed to make new containers from virgin
resources," Franklin said.

"The shareholder resolutions set realistic goals, based on actual
experience. Plastic soda bottles are made with 25 percent recycled
plastic in several countries, including Australia, Switzerland and
Sweden. Coke has started using recycled plastic again in the United
States, while Pepsi shirks its responsibility," Bob Woodall, executive
director of Atlanta, Georgia-based Waste Not Georgia, said.

"Ten states across America already achieve an 80 percent recycling rate
for bottles and cans by requiring a refundable deposit on beverage
containers. The key to increase recycling on a national basis is
providing appropriate financial incentives," Woodall said.

PepsiCo's recent acquisition of Gatorade brand, the sports drink
leader, is both good news and bad news from a recycling perspective.
"Gatorade reportedly uses some recycled plastic in making its bottles.
However, more than 80 percent of Gatorade plastic bottles get thrown
away, because only 2 states require a refundable deposit on this type
of beverage," Sheehan said. "Non- carbonated drinks, like teas, sports
drinks and water, are the fastest growing portion of the beverage
market, and the fastest growing contributor to beverage container
waste."
* More information is at www.grrn.org/media
* Contact: Lance King (703) 536-7282 Bill Sheehan (706) 613-7121

http://www.ecologycenter.org/iptf/no...enpromise.html