Environmental Incentives, LLC (EI) provides a wide range of technical and policy development support to the Lake Tahoe Basin resource management agencies.  EI is working with water quality regulators and researchers to define a credit-based system to achieve pollutant load reductions necessary to restore clarity in Lake Tahoe.  EI has also worked with federal, California, Nevada and regional agencies to support coordinated planning efforts.

Water Quality Crediting & Trading Program Development

EI is leading the water quality crediting and trading feasibility analysis and program design.  The resulting water quality crediting program will be the means to judge and track progress towards achieving load reduction milestones and permit compliance. By investigating pollutant fate and transport alongside political and economic attractiveness and institutional capacity, meaningful pollutant reduction credits will be defined and tracked to show progress toward achieving TMDL goals. The program will enable project funders and implementers to identify how to best target the investment of public funds to restore the Clarity of Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe TMDL Integrated Water Quality Management Strategy Development

EI is providing the primary linkage between policy makers and technical investigators to ensure that analyses are policy relevant and address stakeholder needs. EI is managing a set of consulting teams in the exploration of strategies to keep ultra fine sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous from entering Lake Tahoe. These investigations involve evaluations of pollutant load reductions at typical sites as well as extrapolations to estimate basin-wide potential load reductions. EI is also assisting with the identification and analysis of load allocation options.

Collaborative Regional Planning Support – Pathway 2007

EI provided technical project management support for the development of Desired Conditions and indicators for the management of natural resources in the Lake Tahoe Basin.  EI facilitated over 40 agency staff and contractors organized under ten different resource area technical working groups.  Environmental Incentives worked directly with agency management and executives on inter-agency coordination, work planning and public communications issues.  The project will result in updated management plans and regulations for the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.