I don't hate all jetskiers. I hate jetskis *when they are in places that they should never ever be.* They do not belong on wilderness rivers. They do not belong in national parks. They do not belong in environmentally sensitive areas. They do not belong in areas used by non-powered watercraft. They do not belong in areas used by swimmers. *IF* the PWC industry dramatically reduces the emissions (which consist of water, air, and sound pollution in amazingly high quantities) *and* makes safety improvements *and* assists in setting up a mandatory, stringent licensing program, then I'm willing to tolerate their presence in areas which are designated as available for the use of PWC. I'm not holding my breath, however: the PWC lobby seems more intent on continuing to line its pockets by selling these aquatic crotch rockets to anyone with the cash and by attempting to make sure that they can inflict their presence on anyone, anyplace. They have made it impossible to be a moderate on this issue by their intransigence and their utter failure to acknowledge their responsibility as an industry for the problems caused by their products. So at this point, I'm annoyed enough with them that I will support any and all legislation restricting or banning the sale and/or use of PWC anywhere, anytime. "They" had their chance to behave responsibly and blew it (in fact, they continue to blow it), so now it's time to hit them with tons of regulations -- which is one way our society deals with irresponsible behavior. ---Rsk Rich Kulawiec rsk_at_gsp.org *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jul 14 1998 - 16:07:25 PDT
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