The plan to refill the Great Salt Lake

Making externalities go away is hard. You take a zero cost (to them) outcome and push it back on their turf, making it anything but zero cost. I think it's a corollary of why utility functions need regulation: if you want the social utility of the great salt lake you need enforcement powers to strip "muh rights" off people who get benefits in the current situation, and bear none of the costs or consequences.