Obama urges nations to work together on climate issues

The president is pointing to steps the U.S. has taken to reduce emissions and protect the environment while also growing its economy. He says that shows that there’s no conflict between a healthy economy and a healthy planet.

Obama is touting his decision to expand the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. He says it’s a hallowed site that deserves to be treated as such and will now be preserved for future generations.

3:50 p.m.

President Obama says places like Lake Tahoe are important because they nurture and restore the soul.

Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Wednesday it was the first time he had ever visited the mountain lake that straddles the California-Nevada line atop the high Sierra.

He says it has been a sacred place for the Washoe Tribe for thousands of years and should be held sacred by all Americans.

The president says he won’t have as nice of transportation, but he intends to return to Tahoe as a private citizen when he leaves office after this year.

He says he’ll have to drive instead of ride in Marine One. That’s the presidential helicopter that he boarded after the summit to fly back to Reno-Tahoe International Airport before he continues on to Hawaii.

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3 p.m.

President Obama says the extraordinary efforts that have been put into healing Lake Tahoe the past two decades prove it is possible to pass on the nation’s greatest natural treasures to future generations.

Obama said in a speech at the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Wednesday that tourist-based economies like the one at Tahoe live or die by the health of the environment.

The president says the bipartisan co-operation that has attacked threats to the alpine lake’s famous clarity is evidence there’s “no contradiction between being smart on the environment and having a strong economy.”

He says leaders of the Native American Washoe Tribe that has called Tahoe its home for thousands of years had it right when they said that “the health of the land and the health of the people are tied together.”

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2:15 p.m.

California Gov. Jerry Brown says the unprecedented steps taken to protect Lake Tahoe over the last 20 years proves that “beauty transcends politics.”

The Democrat took the stage at the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit in Stateline on Wednesday ahead of the keynote address to be given by President Barack Obama.

Brown told the thousands of people crowded into an outdoor arena in a casino parking lot that they are standing next to the most beautiful lake in the world.

He says Tahoe’s beauty has provided a higher calling that allows Republicans and Democrats to overcome the petty issues that often divide them.

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2 p.m.

Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada and Dianne Feinstein of California are praising the unprecedented, bipartisan work that has been done to protect Lake Tahoe over the past two decades.

Reid opened the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit Wednesday at an outdoor arena on the lake’s south shore where President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address later in the afternoon.

Reid says that thanks to the nearly $2 billion that has been spent to reverse a loss of clarity since 1997, Lake Tahoe is now “more pristine than it has been in decades.”

Feinstein says she’s most impressed by the more than $330 million the private sector has contributed to the effort that has restored 1,500 streamside zones and added 2,700 linear feet of shoreline to public access areas.

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1 p.m.

Thousands of people are crowding into an outdoor arena in a casino parking lot at Lake Tahoe where President Obama is to give the keynote address at the 20th annual environmental summit addressing the lake’s ecological challenges.

Sen. Harry Reid invited Obama to speak at Wednesday event in Stateline, Nevada on the lake’s south shore. The Nevada Democrat who is retiring this year also persuaded former President Bill Clinton to host the first Tahoe Summit in 1997.

Other speakers include California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, California Gov. Jerry Brown and assistant U.S. Interior Secretary Janice Schneider.

Scientists are worried about the loss of clarity in the alpine lake caused by a wide variety of factors over past half-century, including housing construction, storm-water runoff, automobiles and aquatic species.

The newest threat is climate change. The lake’s temperature has risen faster over the last four years than any time on record.

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8 a.m.

President Barack Obama is opening a two-day environmental tour aimed at showcasing conservation efforts before travelling to Asia, where climate change is high on the agenda for his final trip to the continent.

In Nevada on Wednesday, Obama plans to visit Lake Tahoe and speak at a summit dedicated to the iconic lake’s preservation. Then he’ll travel to Honolulu to address leaders of island nations.

Obama will continue the theme Thursday during an unusual presidential visit to Midway Atoll, a speck of land halfway between Asia and North America. Obama plans to focus on small islands that are especially vulnerable to climate change.

The stops come at the start of a busy trip to China and Laos, where Obama will meet with world leaders and attend a trio of summits.

Josh Lederman And Scott Sonner, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Obama urges nations to work together on climate issues

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