William Shatner wants to build a pipeline from Seattle to California, and he wants your help paying for it.
The 84-year-old Star Trek captain, author, and Priceline pitchman says the solution to California’s drought is to build a pipeline “say, from Seattle, a place where there’s a lot of water — there’s too much water — how bad would it be to get a large, four-foot pipeline, keep it above ground, because if it leaks, you’re irrigating!”
Somehow, Shatner has arrived at the $30 billion figure to build this dream pipeline that will cure California’s water woes.
So far, we can’t find if Shatner cites research into the impacts of removing massive amounts of water from the Pacific Northwest and importing it to arid California.
“It’s simple. They did it in Alaska!” Shatner tells Yahoo! news. “Why can’t they do it along Highway 5?”
Beyond the incredible amount of political maneuvering, environmental research, and engineering that would have to go into such a project, there is no factual basis to believe that filling Lake Meade or another reservoir would solve California’s drought woes.
Shatner has already received some blowback on Twitter, where many people have called him out for the idea. He has responded.
Dearest Citizens of Seattle if you think I’m an idiot or evil enough to steal your much needed water; you don’t know me very well.
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) April 21, 2015
But now that an influential actor has decided to take up the cause, you can expect to see politicians and others latch on. Maybe. Sleep with one eye open, Seattle.
