A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (actually it was the 1830s), the United States of America went on a canal-building binge.

The idea was to link the rivers, over the mountains, and enable trade to flourish between east and west, north and south. Huge bond issues were floated, some backed by state governments.

But technology got in the way. The plans were impractical, costs skyrocketed. Meanwhile, a little invention called the railroad made the whole scheme obsolete.

As a result, America went broke, starting in 1837. The bonds defaulted, despite their state backing. Thus, no European investor wanted to touch anything American for over a decade. We were seen as charlatans, con artists, and gullible fools. So we were.

Fast forward to today, and watch Libya doing the exact same thing. (The picture above is from the New York Times article linked-to in that last sentence.)

The idea, like the canals, has some merit. Tap ice deep in the ground, bring it up for use today, irrigate the desert, make it bloom. A golden age, without oil.

What could possibly get in the way? Two things, actually. One is desalination. What's the cost of building desalination plants along the Libyan coast and moving that water inland, as against drilling for it and hauling it up like oil?

Second is fuel cells. (The diagram is courtesy the EPA.) Combine hydrogen in a tank with oxygen from the air to produce power wherever you need it. The "pollution" in this case is water. Water created at the power source. Water you can save in that tank, then spread on a field. Water that consists only of hydrogen and oxygen, its chemical building blocks. Put this water on the ground, on a field tilled with the help of animal fertilizer, and grow a crop, while holding the soil. Or run it through rubber hoses, right to the roots, in drip irrigation. Or drink it.

The canal builders dream big. But big dreams have big price tags. And sometimes (often in fact) there are cheaper ways to the same result. So it is that dreams, even good dreams, can turn into nightmares.