talk about a tempest! LTVA is backed by CASINO/gaming interests anfd they have LOTS of money to throw at this.

I have often worried/wondered about the debris in the lake after the show...and now they have added one on Labor Day and New Years... it's just greed to get the visitors to come to the lake, because the economy is so suckish here. If you drive from stateline to the california side of town it's a few miles, I can't tell you how many commercial spaces are vacant, and have been since 2007 or so..
It's the gamine interests in Nevada that can afford to dump more money into the empty spaces, but they only do it in Nevada.

anyway, this will be a fun one to watch in the local news, I am sure our City Council will get all upset and take sides too...

- Americans love their shiny objects, and all things that go boom!




"We've got the only national anthem that mentions fucking rockets and bombs in the damn thing!" ~George Carlin

to go over well locally. Tahoe is almost solely dependent on tourists, and the 4th & the fireworks display is one of the events the economy depends on. Tahoe has been struggling mightily from lack of snow, massive numbers of foreclosures, and tribal gaming. The loss of the fireworks will be a huge blow.

i don't see how or why it has to compete with gaming as i see it as 2 different things people enjoy.

Tahoe has always been about specific target audiences like skiers, hikers, families and, until recently, gamblers -- the town cannot survive on one or two sectors, Visitors come from hundreds of miles around for the 4th celebration and New Years. At a time when the local economy is in free-fall, the loss of the fireworks shows could be devastating. I hope they can develop a solution that addresses the environment AND the local economy.

of the trash and debris, which could be used after each fireworks show?

Cleaning up the chemicals would be another story...

I kinda understand the point, since they are shot up over the lake. Too bad.

they shoot them every week here in chicago, out over lake michigan. i have been bothered by this even tho i like a good fireworks show as much as the next guy.
but i keep thinking- the chrome, and other metals used for colors are not good, and not going anywhere.

Even Disney ended up using an air-powered launching device to send shells into the air over their parks as much of the discharge of pollution is that which is used to launch the shells up into the air. (at least 15 years now) I don't see why they can't require this kind of system EVERYWHERE fireworks are used in the air for shows. It just goes without saying that if it can work for a place like Disneyland, it can certainly be show to be a proven system that can be retrofittted elsewhere when repeated skyline shows are presented.

People just don't want to spend the money -- they'd rather pollute than care for the most part. Maybe the lawsuit will force some changes to be made along the lines of limiting the pollution vs. outright preventing it. I'm all for incremental progress.

article on disney issues:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/03/local/la-me-anaheim-fireworks-20100704

The system that Disney uses is:

A. EXTREMELY expensive. When they built the system they realized, however, that they can pay for it over a series of years since they do nightly shows. No fireworks company does nightly shows therefore an expensive system like this is not feasible.

B. I've toured the Disney pyrotechnic launching system. Their air tanks and rigging are massive. It is not a system that you can through onto a flatbed and drive around to shoot fireworks at random locations. It is a static system and cannot be moved.

As someone in the fireworks industry I can understand the delicate nature of the performing especially in more protected natural areas. I'm sensitive to that. But then I also look at the economic impact that fireworks have in most cases and it is HUGE. I saw someone post in this thread "Well people should just go to see the nature..." Well, that would be nice. But that isn't the world we live in. A friend of mine recently was very angry that the baseball game he attended had so many promotions, skits, funny bits, etc. during the game. He asked "Doesn't anyone just come to watch the damned game?" The answer is no.

I drive past the Ft. Lauderdale Airport everyday and think about the amount of jet fuel being burnt by every plane and then think about what one of our 10 minute fireworks cost the environment. The fireworks is probably just a drop in the bucket compared to so many other areas that are not good for our environment.

My point is people should look into minimizing impact -- maybe they can take 15% out of the air by kicking up only the large shells with a system other-than-pyro.... maybe it is only a 10-unit transportable firing mechanism that automatically reloads multple shots. But it's something.

Someone could make some good money designing something that could be taken on the road. Maybe you can do it. You sound like you love what you do.

One thing also...the black powder that is used to "launch" a shell is much less bad for the environment then what the colors are in the actual shells. The perchlorates (actually very low levels for US fireworks compared to many others made around the world) are in the colors, not the launching powders.

A bunch of guys getting together to reenact a Civil War battle with muskets and cannons would fire a LOT more black powder than we would during a large show.

Until recently, construction on the banks of the Lake had been largely under the control of real estate developers. Construction activities have resulted in a clouding of the lake's blue waters. Currently, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is regulating construction along the shoreline.[50] (and has won two Federal Supreme Court battles over recent decisions). These regulations are unpopular with many residents, especially those in the Tahoe Lakefront Homeowners Association

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tahoe#Environmental_issues

The remaining ranches no longer have any sort of livestock. There are a couple of horse barns where you can go riding, but nothing like the old days.