Before you build it, make sure it’s feasible.

The 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” made famous a quote — “If you build it, he will come” — that has been used since to convince people that dreams can come true if they persevere.

In this case, it makes sense to be sure a plasma gasification facility being considered is feasible for Borderland before we build it. And area officials have clearly been doing their homework on the project.

In this case, a field trip is a proper next step in the process of determining if this idea is a good fit for Borderland. Area officials are acting properly in sending Koochiching Economic Development Authority Director Paul Nevanen and member and Koochiching County Board Chairman Mike Hanson to Pittsburgh next week to tour the Westinghouse plasma gasification facility.

Dubbed the Renewable Energy Clean Air Project, the facility would use a plasma arc torch to vaporize garbage and other waste while at the same time providing valuable byproducts.

This tour will allow local officials to talk directly to the staff of the company that will provide the technology that would be employed in the project.

The timing of the trip is right. An extensive feasibility study on the proposal is nearing completion and Borderland leaders could decide in 2010 whether to move forward with constructing the facility, estimated to cost at least $30 million.

This project has the potential to be a huge boost to the local economy, especially with the worldwide push to go green. By vaporizing local garbage, Koochiching would be alleviated of the more than $1 million annual price tag to haul and landfill its garbage elsewhere. And as more communities begin to question the safety of placing garbage in the earth, this facility could encourage mining of old landfills, with communities paying Koochiching County to handle their waste.

But there are still questions to be answered about how this technology might work in Borderland. And now — before we build — is the time to pose those questions.