Labor Day, a day we celebrate the historic importance of the people who worked in all types of jobs to make this country what it is. And as warships are steaming toward the Red Sea, the tensions in the Middle East, and around the world, the important of the Keystone XL pipeline seems insignificant. Yet, we must stay focused. President Obama, I had a dream last night. I was catching up on the latest news and the following story caught my attention. Oil leak makes community a ghost town! In my dream a small town neighborhood in a rural area was flooded from crude tar sands oil. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of dirty oily yuk oozed from the ground like a liquid monster intent on taking over the area. The ooze seeped every where; in streets, driveways and found its way into the storm drains. Families where forced to evacuate, as first responders struggled to tame the oily beast. Booms, absorbent pads, and workers quickly surrounded the black oily monster and waged a battle to tame the yucky mess intent on ruining a local fishing lake. I woke up thinking this wasn’t a dream but a nightmare. Stories like this are happening almost every day somewhere along our nation’s 55,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines. Whether it’s an oil spill, a gas leak or a deadly explosion our country has suffered 8,000 incidents since 1986 and billions of dollars have been spent cleaning up the mess. Everything we touch is connected to oil. Somewhere along the route of consumerism, from a raw material, to manufacturing, to transportation, to retail to disposal, it’s all oil. For the first time since the first pipeline was constructed in the early 40’s, Americans have been able to voice their opposition to an oil pipeline. We don’t want it! The oil company’s mantra that spills are a necessary part of providing our country with the needed goods to maintain our economy simply will not wash anymore. We have the opportunity to say no, and we are! Mr. President, reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Sincerely, Dale Dobson
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:07:38 +0000