USA/Alaska: Trans Alaskan Pipeline
Trans Alaska Pipeline was the biggest boom in the the state since the gold rush. While almost everybody in Alaska is positive about the pipeline and everybody got rich during its construction as the economy of the entire state benefited immensely – it was and remains more then controversial. In 1968, vast amount of oil were discovered in the Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic Ocean. After shipping or even flying oil out was rejected, the Big Oil pushed for building a pipeline to connect to the non-freezing port of Valdez on the south coast of Alaska – 800 miles away from the source. Various environmental and aboriginal land right lawsuits and protests almost stopped the pipeline from happening, but then the oil embargo happens in 1973, and the Congress quickly authorized the construction. Originally budgeted at $2bln, it ended up costing over $8bln – solving the permafrost problem was complicated, money was stolen and wasted, the mob was involved, and big oil threw immense amounts of cash at everyone, and everyone working on it took the cash as it was thrown. Permafrost was the biggest problem as it was impossible to put the pipeline underground since it would melt the permafrost and sink or buckle and spill. So most of the pipeline is elevated above ground on special platforms that each acts as a cooler to keep the ground frozen; the pipeline itself is super insulated as well. The oil started flowing in 1978, along with spills and accidents, such as Exxon Valdez spill or when a drunk guy shot a hole in the pipe and let 6,000 barrels leak out. The construction and operating costs must have been insane and I can’t possibly imagine how this is profitable in the end given the advent of shale and the supply boom all over the world. Regardless of cost, the pipeline cuts through entire Alaska as a serrated knife-wound, and you can approach it easily from Dalton Highway, walk underneath it and either marvel or be appalled by what you see.
