Crap Detecting 101-3: Beam Me Up, Scotty! 'Shatner Trek' Coming Soon to Seattle... and British Columbia?

Much has been made of Canadian actor William Shatner's scheme to pipe freshwater from Seattle down to California for $30B.

I am no pipeline expert, but I doubt that $30B would get the pipeline paralleling Interstate 5  to the Oregon border (c. 165 miles from downtown Seattle), much less to California's Lake Shasta, perhaps another 450 miles. 

And where will the water come from to fill the pipeline, Bill? About half of Washington is now drought-stricken, although the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett area is not yet part of the drought-stricken region. But it could be by early May.

Since Shatner is a Canadian, perhaps he could cajole his countrymen to let us extend the pipeline into British Columbia. Now we're talking serious water, right? Long live NAWAPA! Maybe the LaRouche folks can help. 

Then again, Shatner is from Montreal, and that would likely not endear him to western Canadians.

And speaking of Canadians and NAWAPA, here is a piece by columnist Stephen Hume in The Vancouver Sun.

Methinks Capt. Kirk is seeking some PR with all this. 

Jack Ohman's cartoon from the Sacramento Bee says it all....

 Note: A colleague told me that the Sacramento Suburban Water District Asset Management plan estimates the cost of a new 78" main (the largest they price out) at $6.4 million per mile. My gut feeling tells me that is far too low for the 'Shatner Plan'.

 "If you make a fool of yourself, you can do it with dignity, without taking your pants down. And if you do take your pants down, you can still do it with dignity." - William Shatner 

Comments

[Randy Albright]

Just don't tell him that water in the Lower Columbia River basin is not fully appropriated yet...