Trans Alaska Pipeline

The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline is being investigated by a congressional committee for allegedly spying on a former tanker broker it suspected of supplying information to the committee's probe of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), has asked the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to provide documents resulting from surveillance by its security contractor, Wackenhut Corp.

JUNEAU, Alaska - Over most of the last several decades, Alaska's North Slope was America's energy powerhouse. The legendary oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk gushed 2 million barrels a day out of the frozen tundra and down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The state abolished its income tax and paid its citizens generous annual oil dividends. Then in an alliance with Democrats that enraged the GOP old guard, former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin in 2007 helped push through an unabashedly liberal tax plan that boosted oil production taxes, in some cases up to 350% above 2005 levels.

With the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field past its production peak, the operator of the Trans-Alaska pipeline says some operations may soon have to shut down to accommodate a smaller oil flow. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. plans in the next two to three years to start closing some of the 12 pump stations along the 800-mile line that delivers a quarter of the nation's domestically produced oil, said Marnie Isaacs, spokeswoman for the consortium.

SEATTLE -- The U.S. Interior Department opened the door to the possibility of an oil pipeline across the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and to oil and gas leasing on 11.8 million acres of it. The draft development proposal unveiled Monday by U.S. Interior Secretary  Ken Salazar represents the federal government's first coordinated plan for the 22-million-acre reserve, which has seen limited oil production in recent years despite controversy...

From its conception, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was destined to be a superlative among superlatives. The final weld on the 800-mile, 48-inch-wide steel tube on May 31, 1977, signaled the end of what was then the largest construction project ever undertaken by private industry. "It was truly an accomplishment that everyone can take credit for, that no individual can take credit for," said Ben L. Odom, senior vice president for operations for ARCO Alaska Inc., an Atlantic Richfield Co.

A reinspection of 19 points along the trans-Alaska pipeline revealed no serious new cracking or corrosion on the conduit that carries about a quarter of the nation's crude oil production, state and federal officials said Monday. The review, begun after complaints from a disgruntled subcontract worker, showed "no significant problems" along the 800-mile pipeline that might have been glossed over in earlier tests, said Rod Swope, outgoing commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

A House panel went behind closed doors Monday to investigate possible criminal activity by an Alaska-based consortium of major oil companies and its security firm during a covert spying operation aimed at whistle-blowers. The House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee began two days of hearings into allegations of wrongdoing by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., operator of the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline, and its Florida-based security firm, the Wackenhut Corp.

Crews installed a clamp over a bullet hole in the trans-Alaska pipeline, finally stopping a leak that over three days spewed 285,600 gallons of oil onto the wilderness 75 miles north of Fairbanks. A man who had been drinking shot the pipeline with a hunting rifle in what the governor called "a harebrained act of violence." The pipeline, which carries about 17% of the nation's oil production, had to be shut down.

In 1977, one of the engineering marvels of the modern world made its debut: the trans-Alaska pipeline, 48 inches of steel traversing 800 miles, three mountain ranges and more than 800 rivers and streams. In its heyday in the 1980s, the pipeline carried as much as 2.1 million barrels of oil a day from America's largest oil field at Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. Alaska was transformed into a petro state with an oil savings account worth $33.3 billion. Today, however, the pipeline is carrying only about 660,000 barrels of oil a day, and production from the North Slope's aging fields is set to steadily decline over the next decade.

Facing mounting criticism over cost-cutting, deferred maintenance and a corporate culture that discourages dissent, the beleaguered head of the company that runs the 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline announced Wednesday that he would retire in September. Kevin Hostler's decision comes as two congressional subcommittees investigate Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s maintenance and safety records, and amid allegations that employees who expressed safety concerns were ignored or even punished.

The pavement ends 70 miles north of Fairbanks. From there, it's 414 miles of gravel, ice and blowing snow to Deadhorse, where what's left of the North American continent lies down along the rough peaks of the Arctic ice pack. It has been called the greatest road trip in the world. John Thomas has driven it 2,990 times, give or take a few. He's driven it at speed, with his big, 475-horsepower Kenworth straining the limit. He's driven it at 5 mph, when the snow was blowing so thick he had to crack open the door to see the edge of the road.

At least 20,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled from a corroded pipeline near Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska, state officials said Wednesday, adding that cleanup crews were hampered by severe conditions such as wind-chill temperatures of 50 degrees below zero. The leak has been plugged, and cleanup crews with giant vacuum trucks known as "super suckers" have been deployed to gather the spilled oil, said Lynda S. Giguere, a spokeswoman for Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

A jury convicted a man of shooting a hole in the trans-Alaska pipeline, leaking more than 285,000 gallons of oil into the wilderness. Jurors agreed that a drunk Daniel Lewis was responsible for last year's spill, which was the pipeline's second-largest and has cost more than $13 million to clean up. Lewis, 38, could be sentenced to up to 22 years in prison.

Oil began flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline again Wednesday morning, after crews made repairs following a magnitude 7.9 earthquake Sunday that moved the line up to 7 feet in places. "They're slowly, slowly, slowly ramping up," said Mike Heatwole of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. "They're going to watch that section closely." The line, which carries about one-sixth of the nation's oil production, was shut down after Sunday's earthquake.

A jury convicted a man of shooting a hole in the trans-Alaska pipeline, leaking more than 285,000 gallons of oil into the wilderness. Jurors agreed that a drunk Daniel Lewis was responsible for last year's spill, which was the pipeline's second-largest and has cost more than $13 million to clean up. Lewis, 38, could be sentenced to up to 22 years in prison.

Workers excavated part of the trans-Alaska pipeline for the second day Monday, seeking the source of a leak spilling oil underground, officials said. The amount of oil spilled was unknown, but test digs found that it had not spread to a stream or gully in the area, according to its operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., and regulators overseeing the system.

Crews installed a clamp over a bullet hole in the trans-Alaska pipeline, finally stopping a leak that over three days spewed 285,600 gallons of oil onto the wilderness 75 miles north of Fairbanks. A man who had been drinking shot the pipeline with a hunting rifle in what the governor called "a harebrained act of violence." The pipeline, which carries about 17% of the nation's oil production, had to be shut down.

Workers excavated part of the trans-Alaska pipeline for the second day Monday, seeking the source of a leak spilling oil underground, officials said. The amount of oil spilled was unknown, but test digs found that it had not spread to a stream or gully in the area, according to its operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., and regulators overseeing the system.