Oil pipeline is shut after crude oil spill

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was temporarily taken off-line after workers found a spill of up to 500 gallons of crude oil.

The cause turned out to be a loose fitting on a pipe, which was quickly tightened. The pipeline's operator, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., began the process of restarting the pipeline about six hours after shutdown, spokesman Mike Heatwole said.

The oil spilled from an aboveground section of the pipeline at a remote gate in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska.