ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. – As the keynote speaker at the 28th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke about what the Biden-Harris Administration has done to invest in transit, trails, and technology. 

“This job in 3 1/2 years has now taken me to every state in the union,” Buttigieg said. “I’ve seen some remarkable places, but I have never been to a place like Lake Tahoe. This is an incredible and beautiful place.” 

This was the first of many times during Buttigieg’s 25-minute address when the crowd at Round Hill Pines Beach Resort erupted into cheers. 

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“I see the magic of this place and why you all work so hard to preserve it,” Buttigieg said. “That’s why we’ve got a lot to talk about.” 

Buttigieg was invited by the Summit’s host, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. 

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Washoe Tribe Chairman Serrell Smokey, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler, Rep. Mark Amodei, Rep. Kevin Kiley, and Rep. John Garamendi also spoke. 

Buttigieg then presented “an optimistic outlook” on the progress of fighting climate change and protecting Lake Tahoe through good transportation. But not without first, Buttigieg talking about the reality of climate change.  

“July 21 was the earth’s hottest day in recorded history,” Buttigieg said. “That record stood for one day before it was broken again, the very next day.” 

He said it’s the hottest year in recorded history. 

“Climate change is a global issue that has come to take almost cosmic proportions, and the consequences are very close to home,” Buttigieg said. “They’re local. They’re personal.” 

Wildfires are more frequent and severe and are now a regular threat to this basin. 

“And of course, you’ve experienced wildfires much closer to home,” Buttigieg said. “Coming together on that 3rd anniversary of the start of the Caldor Fire that burned more than 220,000 acres and more than 50,000 people were evacuated.” 

Lake Tahoe is at risk, he explained. With air temperatures warming, the lake is also warming. Algae blooms are forming. 

“As secretary, I have seen first-hand different versions of the threat and impact of climate change across America,” Buttigieg said. 

He cited a mudslide in Colorado that took out the trucking supply chain. On the Mississippi River, a drought impacted barge use. There’s deteriorating infrastructure due to the sea level. There are frequent and ferocious hurricanes on the East Coast. He also spoke of a deadly wildfire in Hawaii. 

“It’s really no longer appropriate to talk about climate change as a threat, which is a word that conveys something that might pose a problem later on,” Buttigieg said. “Climate change is upon us and nothing can be gained by denying the harms that are already visiting Americans in every part of this country.” 

Then Buttigieg made the audience burst into laughter again. 

“You may be remembering that I promised my remarks would be optimistic,” Buttigieg said. “I’ll get to that part now because I meant it.” 

Then he credited Tahoe residents for their forward-looking transportation policy that reduces carbon pollution and makes this community more resilient. 

“You’re innovative,” Buttigieg said. “You’re leading, you’re crossing political lines and state lines. And we’re proud to be your partner in that work.” 

Buttigieg pitched the benefits of walking and multi-use paths. 

“Mult-use paths ensure people get to where they need to go … by foot or bicycle or wheelchair,” Buttigieg said. “They don’t just enhance the quality of life. They also save lives.” 

Trails are a fundamental part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda to reverse the rise of roadway deaths in this country, Buttigieg said. 

“So that’s why one of the happy tasks I have today is on behalf of the Biden Administration, to officially congratulate you on our $24 million award to build a new stretch of the Tahoe East Shore Trail,” Buttigieg said to a round of applause. 

Then he turned the work going on in modernizing Tahoe transit. 

“When the right trail and transit infrastructure exist together, people have alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles,” Buttigieg said. 

Buttigieg said that’s important not just for fighting climate change, but for fighting congestion and improving local air quality, reducing the pollution that can directly affect the lake clarity that is so important to this place. 

“So, on behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration, I am also thrilled to formally congratulate you on our almost $8 million award for new diesel-electric hybrid buses that improve service, and reduce congestion, pollution, and noise in this community,” Buttigieg said. 

Buttigieg credited Tahoe with being a leader in making transportation networks in the basin more resilient against extreme weather events. 

“Congratulations on our almost $2 million award to upgrade emergency communications and identify transportation vulnerabilities,” Buttigieg said. “On top of another $2 million for technology to analyze visitor travel patterns and employ strategies to reduce congestion, particularly in emergencies.” 

Buttigieg said he understands why this community is working so hard. 

Lake Tahoe “is one of the greatest national gifts in all of America,” Buttigieg said. 

But improving transportation and reducing pollution in the basin is not enough, he explained. Carbon pollution also needs to be swiftly reduced. 

“We cannot protect Lake Tahoe enough,” Buttigieg said. “People of Utah cannot protect the Great Salt Lake enough. The people of New York cannot prevent the subways from flooding alone. But we can do all of those things if we act together.” 

Buttigieg said the U.S. has been globalizing across states, and international borders to enlist one another in this shared effort. 

Then he spoke about how the U.S. is reducing carbon pollution globally through better transportation. 

“We are harnessing the electric vehicle revolution,” Buttigieg said. “That’s a revolution I want to emphasize that’s coming to the automotive sector no matter what, but certain things are far from certain.” 

He said the Biden-Harris Administration is working to make it happen quickly, equitably, all while being made in America. 

“As we see in Tahoe, we are building the infrastructure, so Americans have more transportation options,” Buttigieg said. “We’re making the biggest investment in public transit in the history of the United States.” 

Buttigieg began his week in Las Vegas to watch the start of construction of a new bus rapid transit line. 

“We’re building new train routes in the Midwest and Southeast. And modernizing the heavily used Northeast corridor,” Buttigieg said. “And in April I joined for the start of construction of what will be the first true high-speed rail operating on U.S. soil connecting Las Vegas to Southern California. And we’re excited about that.” 

The Biden-Harris Administration is also tackling carbon pollution internationally by launching green shipping corridors on the West Coast with allies in Asia and the Great Lakes in Canada. 

The U.S. is taking a global leadership role in using sustainable aviation. 

“For a long time, people have been sold a false choice, climate vs jobs. As if the only ways to strengthen the economy are at the expense of our environment and vice versa,” Buttigieg said. “It’s just not true. We’ve got to put that idea behind us.” 

Buttigieg said fighting climate change is compatible with job creation. 

In Reno, Redwood Materials received a $2 billion loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for a campus to recycle and produce battery materials. 

It will employ more than 3,000 people in construction jobs. Once built, it will employ more than 1,500 people in manufacturing. 

During the Biden-Harris Administration, 400 new or expanded facilities for processing materials, manufacturing batteries, and assembling EVs have been created. Those facilities are on target to create 140,000 new jobs, he said. 

Since Buttigieg grew up in the industrial Midwest in the shadows of crumbling factory buildings, he said it means a lot to see these kinds of facilities growing again. These places have been left out of the global economic recovery until now. 

Since 2022, 75% of clean energy investments have been in counties with incomes below the median, Buttigieg said. 

“We’re also seeing if you don’t step this up, a failure to address climate change will threaten jobs that many people didn’t think of as linked to climate at all,” Buttigieg said. 

In Salt Lake City, farmers and ski instructors are affected by the Great Salt Lake drying. 

In Florida, home insurance costs are astronomically rising because of extreme weather. 

“The transportation sector is the biggest contributor to climate change in the U.S.,” Buttigieg said. “To me, that’s nothing but a challenge to aspire to be the biggest contributor to solutions … that’s our goal.” 

On the energy side, the U.S. is projected to build more electric generation capacity this year than in the past two decades, 95% of which is clean energy, Buttigieg said. 

On the conservation side, the Biden-Harris Administration has protected more than 41 million acres of land, water, more than any previous Administration, he said. 

America is preparing to cut our admissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, Buttigieg said. 

“We couldn’t be doing this if Biden-Harris hadn’t passed the biggest climate law of any country in human history alongside the most transformational infrastructure law in over 7 years,” Buttigieg said. 

“We also couldn’t do this without you … it’s your vision we’re supporting, not ours.” 

None of the 60,000 projects were invented at the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters. 

“Our philosophy is that the ideas aren’t going to come from Washington, but more of the funding should,” Buttigieg said. “And now, at last, it is. So, I am optimistic.” 

Climate change hurts everybody. Fighting climate change is creating economic opportunities that help everyone. 

Buttigieg then said he was going to call his 3-year-old twins to say good night.  

“I am going to tell them that I was at a beautiful lake with wonderful people, and that we’re trying to fix roads and paths, and make sure the lake stays clean and clear for the future,” Buttigieg told the Tahoe Daily Tribune at a news conference after his keynote address. “I think they’ll appreciate that.” 

Buttigieg told his husband, Chasten, “This place is really something. We have to come out here as a family someday.”