Regarding your story “Ultimate Solution?”, it has been observed that history repeats itself because people don’t learn (HCN 11/21/08). To some extent that may be true. What is certainly true is that history repeats itself because untruths repeated often enough take on the trappings of truth.
This came to mind when I read the article. Scott Jenkins observes that these (desalination) plants do not harm the marine environment. The story also quotes fisheries biologist Pete Raimondi, who saw “some fish, birds, marine mammals and other large organisms get pinned against or otherwise caught in huge intake pipes.” Since Jenkins was a consultant at the time of his observation for the company selling desalination plants, it is difficult to take his opinion seriously, even with a grain of salt.
Massive intake pipes in the midst of a fisheries environment kill massive numbers of fish and larvae. Talk about an “inconvenient truth.”
David M. Seymour
Silver City, New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bass-o-matic.
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