Opponents of a proposed, 1,700-mile pipeline to carry freshwater from Alaska to drought-plagued California described it as an engineering, ecological and economic nightmare.
But Alaska Gov. Walter J. Hickel, who has championed the idea, likened the project to the pyramids. "The reason I like the proj-ect is that older civilizations always took on big projects," he said.A wide range of opinions emerged Wednesday at a conference on the proposal called by Congress' Office of Technology Assessment.
An Office of Technology Assessment report concluded the pipeline would cost about $150 billion and would be a task comparable to construction of the Panama Canal, the Alaska pipeline and the tunnel under the English Channel.
Hickel said the "giant garden hose" could make his state a fortune that could finance dams and sewer projects.
But a state Department of Water Resources official told the 19-member panel that California has plenty of water and doesn't need to import it. Carlos Madrid, the department's South District chief, said the state needs more storage facilities only.
A feasibility study by the Irving engineering firm Fluor Daniel Inc. said it would take 15 years to complete the pipeline.