Word: valdez
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Billions of barrels of oil reserves are buried under the stark landscape of Alaska's North Slope. The problem is how to get this treasure to market. The best way, oilmen argue, is to pipe the crude across the breadth of Alaska to the southern port of Valdez, then tanker it to Seattle and Los Angeles. To date, oil companies have spent $300 million on engineering surveys, tanker contracts and special steel pipes. Yet the Federal Government has steadfastly refused to issue a permit to build the 789-mile-long pipeline across public land...
After weighing the needs of ecology and economy, the Interior Department last week issued a long-awaited report approving the proposed 800-mile oil pipeline running from Alaska's North Slope (estimated reserves: up to 10 billion bbl.) to Valdez on the state's southern coast. Compiled by Interior geologists, ecologists and engineers, the report called the oil "essential" to U.S. security, especially in light of the Middle East's political instability, and concluded that stiff regulations on the pipeline can "reduce foreseeable environmental costs to acceptable levels...
...would occupy less than 15 sq. mi. of Alaska. Still, it would cross 4,800-ft. mountains, 23 rivers, 124 streams and three active earthquake zones. A single rupture could dump as much as 20,000 bbl. of oil, killing all wildlife for miles around. Moreover, tanker spills off Valdez could irreparably harm Alaska's fishing industry. In Arctic waters, where the cold prevents oil molecules from breaking down, the damage could be drastic...
...commodity to market. Some suggest sending it across the ice-choked Northwest Passage to the U.S. East Coast on supertankers. Others propose a pipeline through western Canada. But most Alaskans are betting on a controversial pipeline that would run the 773 miles to the ice-free port of Valdez on Prince William Sound...
...local businessmen who have invested in the project fear bankruptcy if work does not begin soon. Hundreds of construction workers and an estimated $40 million worth of heavy equipment stand idle in the thin spring sunshine: 150 miles of 48-in. steel pipe are rusting in stockpiles near Valdez. Last week Alaska Governor Keith Miller led a delegation of 150 men to Washington, where they lobbied hard for two days. By the time they flew home, they had encountered failure and success-both at the hands of Walter J. Hickel...