June 20:

1977 : OIL FLOWS IN ALASKA:

With a flip of a switch in Prudhoe Bay, crude oil from the nation's
largest oil field begins flowing south down the trans-Alaska pipeline
to the ice-free port of Valdez, Alaska. The steel pipeline, 48 inches
in diameter, winds through 800 miles of Alaskan wilderness, crossing
three Arctic mountain ranges and hundreds of rivers and streams.
Environmentalists fought to prevent its construction, saying it would
destroy a pristine ecosystem, but they were ultimately overruled by
Congress, who saw it as a way of lessening America's dependence on
foreign oil. The trans-Alaska pipeline was the world's largest
privately funded construction project to that date, costing $8 billion
and taking three years to build.

In 1968, a massive oil field was discovered on the north coast of
Alaska near Prudhoe Bay. Located north of the Arctic Circle, the
ice-packed waters of the Beaufort Sea are inaccessible to oil tankers.
In 1972, the Department of the Interior authorized drilling there, and
after the Arab oil embargo of 1973 plans moved quickly to begin
construction of a pipeline. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. was
formed by a consortium of major oil companies, and in 1974
construction began.

U.S. conservation groups argued that the pipeline would destroy
caribou habitats in the Arctic, melt the fragile
permafrost--permanently frozen subsoil--along its route, and pollute
the salmon-rich waters of the Prince William Sound at Valdez. Under
pressure, Alyeska agreed to extensive environmental precautions,
including building 50 percent of the pipeline above the ground to
protect the permafrost from the naturally heated crude oil and to
permit passage of caribou underneath.

On June 20, 1977, oil began flowing down the pipeline. It got off to a
rocky start, however, as power supply problems, a cracked section of
pipe, faulty welds, and an unsuccessful dynamite attack on the
pipeline outside of Fairbanks delayed the arrival of oil at Valdez for
several weeks. In August, the first oil tanker left Valdez en route to
the lower 48 states. The trans-Alaska pipeline proved a great boon to
the Alaskan economy. Today, about 800,000 barrels move through the
pipeline each day. Altogether, the pipeline has carried more than 14
billion barrels of oil in its lifetime.

For its first decade of existence, the pipeline was quietly applauded
as an environmental success. Caribou populations in the vicinity of
the pipeline actually grew (due in part to the departure of grizzly
bears and wolves scared off by the pipeline work), and the permafrost
remained intact. The only major oil spill on land occurred when an
unknown saboteur blew a hole in the pipe near Fairbanks, and 550,000
gallons of oil spilled onto the ground. On March 24, 1989, however,
the worst fears of environmentalists were realized when the Exxon
Valdez ran aground in the Prince William Sound after filling up at the
port of Valdez. Ten million gallons of oil were dumped into the water,
devastating hundreds of miles of coastline. In the 1990s, the Alaskan
oil enterprise drew further controversy when the Alyeska Pipeline
Service Co. attempted to cover up electrical and mechanical problems
in the aging pipeline.

In 2001, President George W. Bush proposed opening a portion of the
19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, east of Prudhoe Bay,
to oil drilling. The proposal was greeted with overwhelming opposition
from environmental groups and was initially defeated. In 2006,
however, the Senate voted 51-49 in favor of a budget resolution that
included billions for Arctic drilling. Environmental advocacy groups
continue to fight the legislation.




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1789 : Third Estate makes Tennis Court Oath
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1863 : West Virginia enters the Union
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1900 : Boxer Rebellion begins in China
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