Removal process starts Tuesday
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The sunken boat off the shore of Pope Beach in South Lake Tahoe is being raised Tuesday as long as the wind and weather cooperate.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is paying the $20,000 price tag associated with raising the vessel. Authorities first learned of the situation on January 15, 2021 and since then the EPA got involved and say they have been working with El Dorado County Sheriff, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response. The EPA is taking action to raise the vessel when they learned the vessel had begun leaking oil, as indicated in the story and photo carried in South Tahoe Now on February 16 (see story here http://southtahoenow.com/story/02/15/2021/agencies-work-solution-sunken-and-abandoned-boats-lake-tahoe).
EPA has hired High Sierra Marine Inc. to perform the work with will include not only the vessel removal but also associated debris from the lake. The vessel in question, an abandoned 40-foot recreational boat, sank approximately 300 yards offshore from Pope Beach. Repeated efforts by multiple agencies to identify and contact the owner of the vessel had been unsuccessful and it has since been learned the owner is deceased.
The action is being taken under EPA’s emergency response authority. The agency’s emergency response program responds to oil spills; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents; and large-scale national emergencies, including homeland security incidents. In all such incidents, EPA coordinates closely with state and local agencies.