Because the keep their reservoirs full, they can fear a drought less... so much less expensive.
If the fishermen want the water so bad, why don't they come up with the millions to build a desalination plant?
Crowdfund it...
You want EVERYONE else to pay tax money to build this thing---- to support your fishing hobby...
Now, unless I'm mistaken about your opposition to alternatives that would reduce NYC's water dependency on the Catskills, let me make my argument.
Water is a public resource.
In a natural state, there is a wonderful trout fishery that existed in the Catskills, prior to the damming in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Brook trout.
So in a natural state, we have a beautiful fishery in the Catskills.
Collectively, we value nature.
Now if you feel that the costs of conserving what exists in nature should be carried by a few of us, perhaps you could argue for higher use taxes, for the fishery, like licensing fees?
Would that suffice?
Or do you feel that you should not have to contribute to anything that might preserve a coldwater fishery upstate?
Make that argument, I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
Let me make a few guesses about your values here...
Perhaps you'd say that the fishery is manmade, and that the brown trout and rainbow trout that are in the D are not native to the area?
Which is true.
But I see that as a compromise we have made with NYC, and the progress that NYC represents that benefits us all as well...
Just because the natural state no longer supports brook trout, does not mean that the public concedes the trout fishery entirely...
Ok, so now it can support browns and bows.
Let's keep it that way, so we can fish for browns and bows with our kids.
Is that ok?
Try to propose a reason why we should sacrifice what remains of the former brook trout fishery, even if it now supports different species......
Finally, do you think fishing is not a public good?
Perhaps it interferes with your agenda?
If it were gone, you could frack your land and get rich without working, like the rest of us have to work?
And one more question... about public goods and parks and that sort of thing...
Do you think state parks should be paid for entirely by use taxes? Just the people who go there pay, and everyone else does nothing?
Do you feel the same way about national parks?
Have I been robbed by those who have been to Mt. Rushmore, because my tax dollars go toward preserving it, or Yellowstone too?
I havent been to either place, so why should I have to pay for it?
And should I distinguish Mt. Rushmore from Yellowstone, and refuse to pay for its maintenance as a national monument, because it was manmade?
Like our trout fishery?
Or is our trout fishery and Catskills tradition more like Yellowstone than Mt. Rushmore?
I feel a connection to Theodore Gordon, for example, when I fish a quill Gordon, whether or not the dams were there when he was fishing... I'd have to guess he was fishing for brook trout on the Neversink...
So the tradition is deeper than just the species of fish, that we are seeking to conserve.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-delaware-river-system
