Pipeline Monologue Project

 Sophie comes up to her fishy and sprinkles fish food in the bowl

 Sophie: Hi, fishy.

 Sighs

 Sophie: I’m upset. Mommy says that some oil company in Texas is gonna run some kind of pipe allllllll the way up to Canada, right through here in Nebwaska. And the oil might get in our water that we dwink, and that we use for your fishy tank. She says that if that happens, we might have to con… con… um, save water. That means we cant use any extwa water at all. And, and, we wont be able to clean you’re fishy tank anymore… w-we could have to flush you bye bye.

 Sophie starts to get upset, starting to cry now

 Sophie: I’m scared… I don’t wanna send you away to fishy land… I love you fishy! B-but mommy says it-its going to be bad… ‘Cause its tar sands oil.. Whatever that means… its supposed to be dirtier than regular oil… so its gonna be even worse. Oh, fishy, I really wish I was a grownup; I don’t even get a choice what happens! Mommy said that its because our country doesn’t have enough money… I made a lemonade stand and when I make enough money, I’m gonna send it to Mr. Obama, but mommy says that’s not how it works. I don’t get it! Grownups are so mean! Why cant we just all be grateful for what we have like mommy says? Maybe, Mr. Obama will say no-no, and then I can keep you forever my little fishy.

 Farmer Thompson fades in wearing a pair of tattered overalls and a straw hat and starts working his crops

 Farmer Thompson: Boy, howdy! I could sure use a glass of lemonade! Hell, i'ma need a thousand glasses of lemonade after that there TransCanada oil company slicks its pipes right through my own backyard. How am I supposed to make my money then? My wife and I done lived here in Merrick County, Nebraska for 35 years a-raising cattle and a-tillin’ the land, all the while lookin after our son Randy, why, he’s a cattle buyer now, all grown up. He just went to a discussion at his church about this here Gosh dern pipeline, talking about our farm.

 It starts to rain

 Farmer Thompson: Awe, Shoot! Well, might as well get all the water it can get now. Wont be much of my crops left after this pipe is in. Hell, wont be much of my farm left if this pipe should leak into this old field. I even heard that Trans Canada already has a pipeline a-runnin past the east side of that same Aquifer here in my state.  How greedy can ya get! Wanting to squirt more of that there dilbit into the water! I’m a voter, and sonny I voted for Barak Obama because he said he was gonna help the environment. I’m a man of my word; now my question is whether or not he’s a man of his. He needs to tell that there Trans Canada oil company not to run this dang pipe over my crops!

Monologue 3

 Jason Gurdak, a hydrologist at San Francisco State University, gives a presentation to a group of students. He writes on a board as he goes

 Jason: So, in essence, we’re pretty much just taking a bunch of contaminates, mixing them together, and dumping them in the water! Lets look real quick at something called dilbit, shall we? Dilbit is short for diluted bitumen, water mixed with tar sands oil. It contains toxic heavy metals like arsenic, and chemicals like benzene, a cancer causer. This stuff isn’t just regular oil here. Its a lot more corrosive than just crude oil alone, meaning it’ll break down the inside of the pipe quicker and almost guarantee a leak, which we cant detect as quickly underground. Plus, you got the aquifer right there, and a bunch of porous soil that’s just gonna sponge all this Dilbit up, and create a mess for the water. The Dilbit is denser and heavier than other contaminates, meaning its going to do WAY more than just float on top, its going to sink to the bottom, causing so much more damage that could create a plume.

 He tosses his marker

 Jason: And TransCanada is just saying that this is the safest way to transport the petroleum and that any spills “would be limited to a small area!” You’re kidding me right? Really! ‘Cause this crap has happened before, and I gotta tell ya, that wasn’t a “small area.”

 He holds up air quotes

 Jason: July 2010, just one year ago, a river in Michigan got Dilbit spilled in it and Lo and Behold! The waterway was closed for more than six months! Look, I’m not going to keep complaining about this, but come on, obviously I cant be the only one here that doesn’t see the stupidity behind this.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110919-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline-groundwater/