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Article: Alaskan Pipeline
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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ALASKAN PIPELINE
ALASKAN PIPELINE.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline carries freshly pumped crude oil from America's largest oil deposit at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North (Arctic) Slope, 789 miles south to the ice-free port of Valdez on Prince William Sound. Richfield Oil Co. (later merged with Atlantic Oil Co. to form ARCO, Inc.) discovered the Prudhoe deposit in December 1967. Settlement by Congress of Alaska Native lands claims and environmental challenges cleared the way for construction, which began in March 1975. The pipeline required the labor of 28,000 personnel, cost $7.7 billion, and was completed in May 1977.
The 48-inch steel pipeline, partly buried and partly elevated, had by 2001 ...