Impossibly expensive?<p>“The price tag: about $90 billion in today’s dollars, just for capital costs.” To save (their words) Texas water supply, a State with a population of 30 million people.<p>A passenger rail system between LA and San Francisco. “The latest estimate for San Francisco to Los Angeles is $106 billion — more than three times the original cost estimate.”<p><a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-duffy-announces-review-california-high-speed-rail-project" rel="nofollow">https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportati...</a><p>To potentially serve 30 Million “riders” annually with a rail transit service,. So 100 Thousand riders/day? Three tenths of a percent of all Californians? On a corridor that already has auto, bus and air options? Where’s the salvation here?<p><a href="https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Draft-Business-Plan-020724-A11Y.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Draft-Bus...</a><p>If the Texas plan is impossibly expensive, where does that leave the California high-speed rail plan?<p>Nuclear is a bit silly. Solar/wind is perfect…you really don’t care exactly when the water moves.
Not visionary enuf, too isolationist. Think <i>BIGGR, DIGGR!</i><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power_Alliance" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power...</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_Development_Canal" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_D...</a><p>Upgrade with nukkular-powered desalination at the coasts, and pump it upwards/inland.<p>Combine with all sorts of other pipelines, interstates, MAGLEVed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitspurbahn" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitspurbahn</a> high-speed rails, with smartly gridded HVDC-transmission lines.<p>If you think nukkular is bad, use Yellowstones geo-thermals instead, so it doesn't blow.<p>Distribute via smartly gridded HVDC-transmission...<p>Build it with nukkular subterrenes.<p>Call it 'Department of nuTRAQ', 'DON' , because 'DON' gets things on <i>new tracks</i>, and <i>DONE!</i><p>Upgrade, or fade!<p>Edit: I forgot to mention sprinkling some of these, or built like them <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SRMSC_MSR_HAER_ND-9-B.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SRMSC_MSR_HAER_ND-9-...</a> along the lines, for capture of atmospheric CO2, and maybe spraying mists of water in the air for more weather control :-)