After the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, it didnt take
long for environmentalists to cry gloom and doom and for the media
to hype those claims. From caribou dying to earthquakes to all hell
breaking loose, there was no shortage of catastrophic predictions
though the Alaska pipeline now boasts great success roughly 30 years
later.
Construction on the pipeline began in 1975, and oil first moved
through it on June 20, 1977. Former Secretary of the Interior Gale
Norton summed up its success in 2003 that Today the pipeline
produces 17 percent of our domestic petroleum. It has pumped nearly
14 billion barrels of oil and $400 billion into our economy. We need
the pipeline even more now than when it was built.
Just in time for the PBS special, The
Alaska Pipeline, set to air April 24 on PBS, theBusiness & Media Institute compared predictions from the pipelines inception to
the realities of the past three decades.
- Propaganda, Not Policy: Approval of the pipeline was not based on
facts but on oil industry propaganda, according to some of the
Department of Interiors top ecologists, reported The Washington
Post on Feb. 11, 1971. The New York Times ran an editorial that
began, passage of the Alaska pipeline bill is the triumph of scare
propaganda and economic pressure over reasoned public policy on
Nov. 14, 1973.
Reality: Despite those claims, the pipeline has had tremendous policy implications. It created tens of thousands of jobs, from the construction of the pipeline in Alaska to the manufacturing of the pipe in Pennsylvania, to the building of the tankers to transport the oil in Louisiana.
And as gas prices rise going into another summer driving season, the pipelines effect on the oil market bears mentioning. Alaska produces about 800,000 barrels a day or about 1 percent of the world market of 73.5 million barrels a day, said Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute.
A loss of that production would increase prices by at least 10 to 16 percent. In the 1980s, when production was 1.8 million barrels a day and the world market was smaller (54 mbd), the loss of Alaskan oil would have increased world oil prices by 30 to 50 percent.
- Bye-bye Caribou?: Many people suddenly developed a passionate
concern for the mating habits of Alaska caribou and campaign noisily
against intrusion of Arctic pipelines into this essential activity,
reported The Christian Science Monitor on Oct. 10, 1972. The New
York Times on Oct. 14, 1973, said the question is whether the
caribou will go the way of the buffalo.
Reality: Thirty years later we can see the effects of the pipeline on the caribou. Walter Hickel, a former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and governor of Alaska, said that the caribou herd has not only survived, but flourished. In 1977, as the Prudhoe region started delivering oil to America's southern 48 states, the Central Arctic caribou herd numbered 6,000; it has since grown to 27,128. Alaskas Department of Fish and Game Web site reports that in general, caribou have not been adversely affected by human activities in Alaska. Pipelines and other manmade objects have been built to accommodate caribou movements, and the animals have adapted to people and machines.
- Earthquake Risk: Larry Moss of the Sierra Club stated in the Los
Angeles Times on June 14, 1973, that the oil industry has
continued, single-mindedly, its attempt to turn a sows ear into a
silk purse. Support for this claim was that the pipeline had basic
design flaws which cannot really be overcome by engineering
ingenuity. This was supposedly because the pipe would cross one of
the most active earthquake zones in the world, would scar and
despoil vast tracts of magnificent, undisturbed country and would
threaten extensive oil spills in the numerous rivers which the
pipeline would cross.
A report from top ecologists at the Department of the Interior claimed that dangers of severance in earthquake prone areas were inadequately dealt with, read The Washington Post on Feb. 11, 1971. The Alaskan area involved is renowned for its extreme seismic activity, the Post reiterated on May 7, 1972. In the 70 years before 1972, 23 major earthquakes had clobbered the terrain where the Alaskan pipeline would be built, any one of which could have caused a catastrophic break in the pipe, the Post article continued.
Reality: The time passed since the construction of the pipeline allows for testing of this claim. On Nov. 3, 2002, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Alaska. It was the worst earthquake recorded on Alaskas Denali fault, and considered a once-in-600-years event. The New York Times on Nov. 5, 2002, called it one of the largest earthquakes in American history, which, had it struck a major city, would have destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed many people. Tremors caused movements around Yellowstone National Park and even rocked boats in Louisiana. In comparison, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was weaker at 7.8.
Yet the pipeline withstood the powerful quake just as designed damaged but not ruptured, according to the Nov. 10, 2002, Los Angeles Times. If anything, last week's powerful earthquake shows that the pipeline could have withstood more, the pipelines seismic design coordinator said. The New York Times article said that After an aerial survey today, pipeline officials said they found no leaks in the structure.
Gale Norton summarized the effects: The Alaska pipeline was just 60 miles from the quake's epicenter. It shook back and forth, some supporting struts broke. But the pipeline held. It did not crack. Not a drop of oil was spilled. No one was injured. The safety systems put in place worked to perfection. The predicted design flaws that supposedly couldnt be overcome by engineering ingenuity werent mentioned after the earthquake occurred.
- Misplaced Effort: Less than five months after the announcement
of the oil discovery and proposed pipeline, members of the Sierra
Club complained that they were invited to only two superficial
meetings where they were told nothing significant, according to
The New York Times on July 5, 1969. The Sierra Club and their fellow
environmentalists from the Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth,
and Environmental Defense Fund Inc. delayed pipeline progress with
lawsuits. The Feb. 13, 1973, New York Times said the delay in
construction is the best the oil companies can expect, while the
possibility grows ever livelier that after years of misplaced effort
the Alaska pipeline will join such forgotten and costly fantasies as
the
South Sea Bubble.
Reality: That misplaced effort has pumped 15 billion barrels of oil into the U.S. economy. Adrian Herrera of Arctic Power, an Alaska-based group that advocates oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, said the effects of the pipeline have been huge. The benefit is both economic and social. Infrastructure that was built in conjunction with the pipeline has a trickle-down effect that has helped all businesses. Nationwide the effect has been quite profound, he continued. Not just a direct benefit theres indirect benefits too. Jobs supporting the pipeline have been spread across the nation, as have the advantages from having more oil available.
- Pipeline Breaking: On May 6, 1970, The New York Times said that
the head of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory warned that the
proposed trans-Alaska oil pipeline might break and wreak great
damage to the environment.
Reality: Despite leaks in the past, the pipeline has improved and is leaking less. The United States has the most stringent environmental controls on oil. Any spill of more than a teaspoon is reported. The whole pipeline is scanned every day from the ground or helicopters for leaks. Despite being three decades old, the pipeline is more modern than many others around the world.
- All Hell to Break Loose: The New York Times on Nov 10, 1974,
quoted an internationally known professor on Arctic soils from
Rutgers University. He predicted all hell will break loose on
Alaskas north slope within five years after hot oil starts flowing
through the trans-Alaska pipeline. He then compared the spread of
damage to the permafrost to a cancer that takes five years.
Reality: Of the 800-mile pipeline, 420 miles are above ground to avoid the permafrost. When above ground, it has a 2-inch heat pipe containing pure ammonia. When the air is cooler than the ground, the ammonia vaporizes and draws the heat from the earth. The ammonia then condenses on the pipe, starting the process again.
Major
Oil Incidents Not Caused by Pipeline
The pipeline has not been without accidents but the biggest ones
did not involve pipeline malfunctions. On Feb. 15, 1978, there was a
leak of 16,000 barrels. There are some indications that it is
sabotage. You have to suspect foul play, said Morris Turner of the
Alaska Pipeline Office, according to The Washington Post on Feb. 16,
1978. No one was ever charged in that incident. On Oct. 4, 2001,
Daniel Carson Lewis, who had been drinking, shot the pipeline and
caused a leak of more than 6,000 barrels of oil. The Los Angeles
Times on Oct. 21, 2001, quoted a state policeman as saying, Alcohol
and a guy with a gun nothing deeper than that.
The largest oil-related incident in Alaska since the pipeline was
built was the Exxon Valdez incident not a pipeline failure, but a
ship crashing because of human error. On March 24, 1989, a ship hit
a reef and spilled more than more than 11 million gallons of crude
oil into Prince William Sound. The ships captain, Joe Hazelwood,
had been drinking before the ship left, which was illegal. But the
time of the ships departure changed, and had it not, then he
wouldnt have broken the law. Hazelwood also left the deck to do
other work, leaving the ship with an under-qualified sailor a
breech of company policy.
While many animals were killed and the
environment was damaged, it has since bounced back. The 2005
salmon run
was so large that millions of fish were left to die and rot in
hatchery areas. Exxon has paid out $3.5 billion in relation to the
oil spill. Alyeska, a consortium of oil companies of which Exxon is
a part, spends around $60 million a year on oil spill prevention in
Prince William Sound.
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