Moving hot oil through the Arctic ground was an unprecedented challenge after the discovery of the largest oil field in America in 1969 in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The first obstacle that trans-Alaska pipeline had to erase was environmental approval. The National Law on Environmental Policy was passed in 1969, the same year Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., a consortium of seven oil companies, announced plans to build the pipeline. The NEPA required the interior department to produce an environmental impact statement for the project, which had 12,000 pages. Public audiences and court challenges took place for four years. At the end of 1973, after the Opec oil seizure, Congress surpassed the delays and erased the pipeline from the most related judicial challenges to the NEPA.
The 796 miles of the gas pipeline to the south from Prudhoe Bay crosses three mountain ranges, 20 main rivers and 300 currents before reaching the port without gel in Valdez. The highest point, at 4,800 feet, was Dietrich Pass to the Brooks range. As a first petroleum gas in the Arctic, it meant serious design challenges. The seismic and earth conditions were not ideal. About 420 kilometers from the route were on the permafrost. The pipeline could not be buried in these areas, as the heat of the oil would melt the permafrost, making it a shameless mass without support. The underground line rests on 36,000 steel blessings and runs into a zigan pattern -zigzag, allowing up to 20 feet horizontal and 3 feet of vertical pipe motion so that it can support the earthquakes. Every 700 feet at 1,800 feet, the pipes are firmly fixed to anchor sets to prevent horizontal movement. Among the anchors, the pipes are mounted on sliding shoe sets.
Alyeska chose Bechtel as responsible for the construction of the canalization and the transportation road, and Fluor as CM for the 12 pumping stations and a tank truck terminal in Valdez. Five contractors received each of the segments of Pipeline himself, designed by Michael Baker International. Bechtel park 500 employees in Fairbanks. At first, Alyeska admitted the delays in creation, some due to a delay in the delivery of drilling platforms and pieces of drilling, as well as a slow start on Valdez’s oil tanks. A scarcity of mechanics and welders and a great turnover of the workers presented more difficulties. An article from 1975 stated: “Many contractors continue to blame the problems of building the relationship between Alyeska and Bechtel.” Alyeska ended the role of Bechtel as a CM and issued a new contract that designated the firm as “construction services manager”.
The 84,000 dubbed batteries had to be driven below the permafrost thawing area to provide a suitable pad, anywhere 22 to 50 feet deep. Despite the fact that thousands of samples and samples of soil, geotechnical surprises meant that the drilling gear was often mismatched for soil conditions, causing expensive delays. Ever since the 48 in-Dia pipe was only 2 feet above the grade, it has been a barrier to local wildlife. There are 554 locations with higher authorizations to serve as animal crossings.
The initial construction of 1974 was completed with a two -lane gravel road that runs 350 miles from the Yukon River to the northern slope. The 28 -foot road embankment was 5 feet thick to protect the permafrost. The crews also created gravel work tablets for the 5,000 teams and 29 work fields, each with a 5,000 -foot gravel aerp. In December 1974, there were 3,000 workers who were engaged in piles, ending concrete feet for the Yukon River Bridge and Roca that exploited Valdez to remove a oil tank platform outside a mountain.
As a condition of obtaining a permit to build a pipeline that crossed federal lands for more than two thirds of its route, Alyeska agreed to an extensive federal and state surveillance effort to ensure that environmental safeguards were fulfilled. Interior monitoring teams and the state added 95 employees, who had the right to stop their job if needed, and they did so several times.
The hiring increased in the spring of 1975 and the labor force reached 21,600 that September, falling more than mid -winter, with the cycle repeated in 1976.
The workers were formed in Arctic survival by two former United States army sergeants with Arctic experience. Some points mentioned in an article in 1975 include: “Water water or urine can release naked hands that have quickly frozen tools or another metal … Refuges can be excavated in the snow if workers are trapped outdoors … anyone who comes out of the camp must travel with at least another person.” Anyone traveling by car had to carry a sleeping bag in case you were stuck. Recognizing that long working hours, cold winters and limited recreation could foster alcoholism between the labor force, a union-controlist initiative encouraged supervisors to intervene and direct candidates in 12-step recovery programs instead of saying goodbye.
One of the first sections of pipes placed was a section of 1,900 feet through the Tonsina river and its adjoining flood plain. Thirteen vineyards traveled the vinyl -wrapped pipe on a gravel pad 40 feet wide and placed it in a trench full of water up to 17 feet deep. The 300 feet of pipe under the Active River channel had a 9 -In Protective Concrete Concrete Coating. The weights of the concrete chair nine tons fixed the pipe as a position to counteract the buoyancy until the line was filled with oil.
The hardest channel was on the Thompson Pass in the Chugach mountains, which had a slope of 47 °, the strongest of the route. The Morrison-Knudsen contractor had to use a kilot of explosives to cut a 3,700 feet long trench on the slope. A cable -driven cable system brought to the pipe sections and equipment. Custom tracking vehicles of 92 tonnes were used to pump fine grinding material through 10 in hoses.
Union Strife began in 1975, despite a disposition without increasing in the contract. A brief walk of 4,200 employees about Teamsters grievances ended with a court order. Later, almost half of the 2,000 welders left their work for two days after the two -week rest and relaxation period was guaranteed by their contract.
A bridge from the box of the Ortotropic Steel Box through the Yukon River was completed four months for the calendar in October 1975. The 2,280 -foot structure allowed heavy truck traffic to access the northern section of the project. He also carried the pipe in an external steel and cantilevered frame. The pipeline crossed the Tanana river on a bridge only for pipes with two towers 170 feet high at 1,200 feet, the longest suspension of Alaska.
The Terminal A Valdez only cost a billion dollars to build and had four tank trucks and 18 oil storage tanks. The workers excavated 14 million overloaded overloads to reach Bedrock. Each tank rested on an asphalt-grava pillow inside a concrete ring wall base. The welders mounted the 62 -foot steel structures, 250 feet, each with 510,000 barrels.
Alyeska installed Frank P. Moolin Jr. As head of construction of the project in June 1975, after the Democitation of Bechtel. Moolin decentralized authority, giving responsibility to field managers to make more decisions on their own. Demanded detailed productivity reports. When the work stopped for any reason, Moolin decreed that the crews had to be sent back to the camp where they would not be paid. He started a competition between the five contractors, drawing his progress against his goals. All this pressure helped put the project on the court.
Quality control problems affected the project from mid 1975 to the finish line. Alyeska discovered that 8% of manual welds in a 150 -mile pipe section had flaws or deficiencies, and that numerous soldering x -rays were falsified. He started to check each of the 3,748 solders in this section, almost two thirds of which he was buried and fired the X -ray service contractor in this section. The Interior Department and the Pipeline Department of the United States Pipeline ordered an independent X -ray investigation and the repair records of 30,800 welds made in 1975. A reporter employee of the X -ray contractor testified before the congress who was pressured to fake the x -rays. President Gerald Ford sent a Federal Facts Research Team in Alaska in 1976 to examine the disaster. In October 1976, Alyeska had repaired the lower 263 welds and made them X -ray, with a cost of about $ 2,000 per welding.
As a largest project of time in the history of the United States, trans-Alaska pipeline had a small impact on Alaska. The population of Fairbanks doubled in the first year at 60,000 of 30,000. Thirty -Mid workers died during the project.
Shortly after the last welding it was made in June 1977, 27 months after the first welding, the oil began to flow south from the Bay of Prudhoe to about 1 mph, arriving in Valdez a month later. The oil entered the pipe at 140 ° F and, with the cooling of friction compensation, maintains its temperature even in winter.
The final cost was $ 10 billion, which is highly affected by a great inflation and about $ 1 million. The project fulfilled its term, however, and Enr cited Moolin as a Man of the Year of 1977 (now known as the Prize of Excellence).
