William Shatner stirs controversy with $30 billion water pipeline idea

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Actor William Shatner generated a storm of controversy after proposing to solve California's drought with a $30-billion water pipeline from Washington state.

Shatner announced his idea in an interview with Yahoo!, suggesting online crowdfunding would pay for the pipeline.

"I want $30 billion dollars in my Kickstarter campaign to build a pipeline," Shatner said. "I want to build a pipeline, say from Seattle, a place where there's a lot of water."

But was his idea just a pipe dream? In 1992, a congressional study looked at the possibility of going even further north, with a 1,400-mile undersea pipeline from southern Alaska to Shasta Lake in Northern California.

The cost would have been double the expected cost of a new desalination plant coming online in San Diego County later this year.

Meanwhile, Washington state is dealing with its own drought, and Seattle has reacted with outrage and ridicule.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "The fictional commander of the starship Enterprise doesn't seem to understand that many in Seattle look at California and its designs on the Northwest as the United Federation of Planets looked on the Romulans. Ready the photon torpedeos, Gov. Inslee!"

Shatner responded to the backlash on Twitter, writing: "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."