Op-Ed letter to President Trump
From: Rob Mitchell

From: Rob Mitchell, Proponent of American Ingenuity

Subject: A Monumental Infrastructure Project to Showcase American Resilience

Mr. President,

America stands at a crossroads—floods ravage our East and Gulf Coasts, droughts cripple our West, and climate challenges test our resolve. I propose the Flood Control and Drought Mitigation Pipeline (FCDMP), a transcontinental engineering feat to harness floodwaters from the Mississippi Basin and deliver them to the arid Southwest. This isn’t just a pipeline—it’s a testament to the American spirit: resilient, self-reliant, and unafraid to tame nature with grit and genius. With Elon Musk’s Boring Company as our partner, we can build a legacy that makes America great—again—while securing our future against floods, fires, and foreign dependence.

Mr. President, you’ve always said America wins big or not at all. The FCDMP is the biggest win imaginable—a massive, beautiful pipeline that turns floods into farmland, droughts into prosperity, and climate whining into American triumph. This isn’t some globalist handout; it’s self-reliance on steroids. We don’t beg Europe or China for help—we build it ourselves, with American steel, American tech, and American guts.

Picture this: flood-ravaged towns in Louisiana and Appalachia cheering as their streets stay dry. California farmers thanking you for water that doesn’t come from bureaucrats but from our own heartland. Wildfires fading, food prices dropping, and jobs—hundreds of thousands—pouring in from construction to tech. Elon Musk, the guy who put rockets in space, digs the tunnels. You cut the ribbon. The world watches, jaws dropped, as America proves we don’t just survive disasters—we dominate them.

This is your Hoover Dam, your Interstate Highway System—a legacy that screams resilience. No more FEMA bailouts, no more worrying about weather. We take control, like Americans always have. Fund it with a fraction of what we waste on foreign wars—$500 billion to make us untouchable at home. The Boring Company’s ready; Musk’s itching to break ground. Say the word, and we’ll show the planet what “Make America Great Again” really means.

Respectfully,

Rob Mitchell, Rutherford County Tennessee Assessor of Property

Patriot and Problem-Solver

Scientific Blueprint

Objective

The FCDMP aims to mitigate flooding in the East/Gulf regions and relieve drought in the West by transporting excess water across 3,000 miles, leveraging advanced tunneling and renewable energy. It reduces climate change impacts and natural disaster risks, enhancing national security and economic stability.

Technical Specifications

1. Flood Capture System
• Locations: Intake stations along the Mississippi River (e.g., Baton Rouge, St. Louis), Ohio River, and Gulf Coast tributaries.
• Design: Reinforced concrete intake wells with automated flood-level sensors and 100,000-gallon-per-minute pumps.
• Capacity: 50,000 cubic feet per second, diverting 10% of Mississippi peak flows (e.g., 500,000 cubic feet per second during 2019 floods).
2. Pipeline Infrastructure
• Route: East-to-West corridor (e.g., Louisiana to California), optimized to minimize elevation gain and seismic risk.
• Construction: 12-foot-diameter tunnels, bored 50–100 feet underground by the Boring Company’s high-speed tunneling machines (e.g., Prufrock), reducing surface disruption.
• Materials: Steel-lined concrete pipes, pressure-rated for 200 psi, with anti-corrosion coatings.
• Pumping Stations: 60 stations, spaced 50 miles apart, each with 20 MW electric pumps to lift water 7,000 feet over the Rockies.
3. Energy System
• Power: 1,200 MW total, sourced from solar arrays (800 MW), wind turbines (300 MW), and inline hydroelectric turbines (100 MW).
• Efficiency: Net-zero carbon operation, with surplus energy fed to local grids.
4. Drought Relief Network
• Endpoints: Distribution hubs at Lake Mead, California aqueducts, and Arizona’s CAP system.
• Output: 20 billion gallons daily, recharging aquifers and reservoirs.
• Control: AI-driven valves, prioritizing water allocation based on drought indices (e.g., Palmer Drought Severity Index).
5. Storage Reservoirs
• Midpoints