Alaskan Pipeline

"Part of the problem in Washington is that a lot of our Democratic friends, year after year, have tried to stand in the way of more energy production," Vice President Dick Cheney told the New York Republic Committee on May 29th, 2008. "The plain truth is we can get a lot more energy here in America, and we can do it in an environmentally sound and friendly way." He was, of course, talking about expanding drilling and excavating for Alaskan oil. Drilling in Alaska has been a contentious issue since the 1970s, with environmentalists raising a clamor about protecting the national wildlife refuges and the pristine wilderness. Some feared that oil exploration would cause undue harm from oil spills and would disrupt the thriving tourism industry, as well as the centuries-old wildlife migration patterns. However, with the looming energy crisis, the Alaskan pipeline may be the only solution.

"Suddenly people started coming into town," described JB Carnahan, former police officer in Fairbanks Alaska. "It happened kind of rapidly when it took off. Because I don't think anybody really believed this monstrous project was going to impact us. I mean, maybe the politicians did, but I think the average guy was just kind of going, 'Oh sure, we've heard this before,' because this has always been a boom or bust town.

And suddenly, there it was." When the Trans-Alaskan pipeline project began, a flood of people came to town with $3,000 - $5,000 cash burning holes in their pockets, beautiful women arrived from New York and Florida, welders and construction workers drove up from Oklahoma and Texas, South American and Irish immigrants came to collect a check and everyone from secretaries and teachers, to prostitutes and pimps came looking for their fortune.

Fairbanks hadn't seen such activity since the gold rush of the late 1800s! Within a year, the population had doubled in size to 40,000 strong, and the pipeline project had transformed this sleepy two-cop town into a bustling metropolis. Unfortunately, along with all of the business came higher rents, more drugs and more crime.

Over 30 years of operation, the Alaskan pipeline suffered some well-publicized mishaps. In 1977, a pump station exploded, spilling 300 barrels of oil. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit the Bligh Reef near Valdez, spilling 11 million gallons of crude into the Prince William Sound harbor. Salmon, birds, whales, sea otters and bald eagles were all casualties of the worst oil spill in U.S. history. In 2001, a man shot a hole in the pipeline, spilling 300,000 gallons of oil. In 2002, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hurt some of the support structures. Environmentalists charge that there's a spill a day, but oil experts say this massive pipeline is one of the cleanest in the world.

Today, there have been many international talks of expanding the Alaskan pipeline. In April 2008, Russian natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom submitted a bid to build a multibillion-dollar pipeline that would carry Alaskan gas directly to the lower 48 US states. Similarly, the Transcanada Corp announced a $26-billion plan to build an Alaskan natural gas pipeline from Alaska, through Alberta and into Eastern Canada and the US.

According to their study released in May, the project would bring $261 billion in revenues for the state and $147 billion for Alaska's major energy producers over 25 years, making it a favorable option for Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin. Alaska's oil giants BP and ConcocoPhillips have already moved on plans to extend the pipeline 700 miles through Alaska, the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and Alberta. One thing is certain: the Alaskan oil and the pipeline is the key to our energy independence and is the American bargaining chip.

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