|
|
Article: Black gold and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.(history of oil pipeline)
- Article from:
- Cobblestone
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
When an estimated ten billion barrels of oil was discovered under Alaska's North Slope near Prudhoe Bay (see the map on page 8) in 1968, delivering the oil to points south brought controversy, challenges, and people to Alaska.
Several oil companies formed the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, whose aim was to build and operate a pipeline that would carry the oil across Alaska. Valdez was chosen as the end, or terminal, site for the pipeline because its port stays free of ice. The eight-hundred-mile pipeline would eventually cross three mountain ranges, thirty-four major rivers (including the Yukon River), and eight hundred smaller rivers and streams.
...