Often called one of the wonders of the modern
world, the Alaskan pipeline is an incredible feat of engineering running over 800 miles
(1,300 km) from Prudhoe Bay in the north of Alaska to Valdez in the south. The pipeline pumps crude oil at a rate of
between 700,000 barrels of oil a day to as many as 2 million, taking almost 12 days to
travel the length and breadth of Alaska at a speed of 3.7 miles per hour (6 km/h). Built across some of the most difficult terrain
in the world, the pipeline was at the time of its construction known as one of the modern
wonders of the world, and its construction was one of the defining feats of modern America. Construction continued throughout the Alaskan
winter amd saw temperatures as extreme as -70 degrees below zero, and the wilderness
the pipe runs through is so remote that highways had to be built just to get construction crews
to their job sites. Before, during, and long after its construction
safety concerns and the fears of environmentalists raged, with many fearing that the pipeline
would lead to disastrous spills that would ruin some of the world’s last untouched
pristine wilderness, and yet to date the Alaska pipeline has proven to be one of the safest
ways of transporting oil ever created- far safer than the alternative of shipping oil
through seas filled with crushing ice that could tear a ship to pieces. But the story of the pipeline starts nearly
150 years ago, with whalers in the mid 19th century recognizing the substance the local
Inupiat people called pitch as petroleum. An initial survey of the Alaskan north confirmed
petroleum seepage at several different locations, and it was clear that this remote wilderness
was literally bursting with oil. However with difficult terrain and a deadly
cold winter, any interest in developing these far-flung oil fields waned, at least until
after the First World War. With the Navy converting its ships from coal
to fuel oil, it became imperative that the United States maintain a strategic reserve
of oil in case another major war came along. Thus President Warren G. Harding established
a series of Naval Petroleum Reserves to be set aside for future drilling by the US Navy. These reserves spanned the United States,
but some of the largest deposits of oil would be those found throughout Alaska. Out of the Alaskan oil reserves, those located
along the northern coast would prove to be the most substantial, rivaling in size those
located in Texas or the Middle East. Sending geologist to gauge the true petroleum
and coal wealth of Alaska, the US Geological Survey mapped northern Alaska between 1923
and 1925, confirming that the land held rich reserves of coal and oil both. However the daunting challenge posed by Alaska's
fierce winters delayed any exploitation of these reserves until after World War II, when
in 1944 the US Navy funded exploration for oil all along the Brooks Range. Discovering several oil fields, the sheer
difficulty presented by Alaska's weather and remoteness both once more discouraged their
exploitation. Oil could be more easily pumped out of the
ground in the milder climates of the lower 48, or even in less adverse weather conditions
in Canada. For the immediate future, the pristine wilderness
of Alaska would be protected by its remoteness and brutally cold winter. Yet commercial exploitation of oil fields
in southern Alaska eventually drew great interest to the state and its staggering reserves of
oil. Northern Alaska held some of the world's largest
reserves of oil, but the issue of transporting it out of the region remained. Fearing a Japanese invasion into Canada and
then into the United States via Alaska, the United States Army Corps of Engineers had
constructed the Alaskan Highway during World War II. Until that point no true roads ran from the
lower 48 states of the US to Alaska, and all travel was via air or ship. The new highway ensured that large numbers
of troops could be quickly dispatched to head off a Japanese invasion, but in peacetime
it could be used to link the far north with the rest of the US’s economy. Yet Alaska was still incredibly remote, and
the only major commercial sea ports were on the southeast end of the state where the ocean
remained largely ice free even during the bitter winter. Up north however the sea would lock down any
port with thick ice for the majority of the year, leaving only a short summer season for
ships to get in and out. A solution for pumping the incredible wealth
of northern Alaska out of the ground was desperately needed. The first and most obvious solution was the
creation of a transport pipeline, yet at the time no pipeline in the world had ever been
built that equaled the length of the one needed to cross the entirety of Alaska. Engineers feared that it was at present an
unsurpassable technical challenge- oil would not only have to be transported almost a thousand
miles, but it would have to be heated during the winter to keep the pipe flowing. The technical challenges were staggering,
and so alternatives were sought out. Boeing proposed building a fleet of gigantic
12-engine tanker aircraft which would fly oil from the fields to southern ports, but
no fleet of planes would be able to fly enough oil fast enough to make the enterprise commercially
viable. General Dynamics, builders of many of the
Navy's high tech submarines, proposed building a fleet of tanker submarines which would travel
under the Arctic ice cap, but that too was deemed too risky and cost-ineffective. Yet another proposal involved extending the
Alaskan Railroad all the way up north to Prudhoe Bay, which was appealing but still didn't
provide enough transport capability to be truly profitable. Lastly, a fleet of ice breaking oil tankers
were proposed, and fresh out of options, were ultimately seen as the most realistic and
economically feasible idea. Thus the Humble Oil and Refining Company sent
a specially fitted oil tanker, the SS Manhattan, up north to test the feasibility of transporting
oil via ice-breaking tankers. The Manhattan was a powerful ship fitted with
an ice-breaking bow, powerful engines, and hardened propellers to resist being crushed
by ice flows. However during its test run through the Northwest
Passage from the Atlantic to the Beaufort Sea, the ship suffered damage to several cargo
holds which quickly flooded with seawater, and wind-blown ice forced the Manhattan to
change course. Ultimately it was escorted to safety by the
Canadian ice breaker the CCGS John A. Macdonald. Transporting oil out of the remote north via
oil tanker was simply too risky, and so it was back to the original idea: figure out
how to build the at the time world's longest pipeline. Even before the SS Manhattan had left its
home port for its exploratory run through the north though, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
System- or TAPS- had already been formed from a coalition of ARCO, British Petroleum, and
Humble Oil. In 1969 TAPS asked permission from the US's
Department of the Interior to begin geological and engineering studies of the proposed pipeline
route, but even before these feasibility studies had begun the three oil companies had already
chosen a route for the pipeline. Planning to simply bury the pipeline as was
standard everywhere around the world, work was all set to begin when the Interior department
sent personnel to analyze both the proposed route and the oil companies plans. The investigation quickly discovered that
the route and the choice to simply bury the pipeline was completely unfeasible, as the
hot oil running through the buried pipeline would heat the permafrost around it and the
pipeline would fail, spilling millions of barrels of oil in the process. The oil company engineers had underestimated
the difficulty of digging in the frozen permafrost, and completely ignored the ramifications of
heating that permafrost with hot oil. It was clear that the oil companies had rushed
their preparations in anticipation of having the pipeline operational by late 1969, just
months after beginning construction- a notion labeled as ludicrous by Interior Department
personnel. These fundamental engineering issues along
with claims by local natives demanding compensation for the pipeline to pass through their lands
brought along a freeze on any construction. Meanwhile conservationists rallied against
the pipeline, claiming that Alaska was a pristine and untouched wilderness that should remain
so. Spurred by these protests, the Interior Department
forced the oil companies to undertake an environmental impact study for the proposed pipeline, a
move that further delayed construction and added greatly to the cost of the project. For three years conservationists and Alaskan
natives successfully blocked construction of the pipeline, winning several major concessions
from the oil companies to include crossing points for caribou herds and money to help
protect native species. However, on October 17th, 1973, the Organization
of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil embargo against the US in retaliation
for its support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Importing 35% of its oil from foreign sources,
the US was hard hit and gasoline prices skyrocketed, resulting in severe shortages across the nation. The American people demanded an answer, and
two weeks later the US congress approved the immediate construction of the Trans-Alaska
pipeline, removing all legal blocks to its construction. At last after almost 4 years of delays and
tens of millions of dollars invested, the oil companies were free to start construction,
and in March of 1974 work officially began on the massive pipeline. Work would go on year round, with workers
facing brutally cold conditions and months of perpetual dark in the Alaskan winter. Yet the pipeline offered wages up to three
times the national average, and a modern day gold rush began as men and women from all
over the United States rushed up north to work on the pipeline. So great was the influx of workers that towns
across the formerly remote Alaskan wilderness boomed in population, with the population
in Valdez exploding from 1,350 in 1974 to 8,253 just two years later. Along with the increase in population though
came an explosion of crime, everything from theft to murder to prostitution, and in many
towns criminal elements set themselves up to cater to the illicit needs of pipeline
workers flush with cash. The sale of drugs, alcohol- which was illegal
for pipeline workers by order of the oil companies- and sex boomed in towns all along the construction
route, and eventually organized crime had penetrated deep into the very bones of the
massive project. The theft of huge amounts of construction
equipment, materials, and even brand new trucks was not uncommon, yet the oil companies were
so deeply invested by this point and eager for construction to be done that they simply
absorbed the losses. Ultimately though the pipeline would be completed
in 1977, and the first barrel of oil reached Valdez on July 28th, 1977. For three years tens of thousands of people
labored in some of the greatest temperature extremes on the planet, and total construction
costs would come up at over $8 billion dollars. However the pipeline would see the successful
and safe extraction of billions of barrels of oil that would have remained locked up
for decades without its construction, and ensure America's need for oil could be met
in the event of international emergencies. Today though the pipeline's daily output has
fallen to a trickle of its former output as fields in north Alaska are drying up. Unless new fields are developed, the pipeline
will inevitably close, though ongoing development could see it last as far as 2075. Would you have risked working in the Alaskan
wilderness to build this incredible pipeline?Also, check out our other video, Soldiers Caught
in the Kajaki Landmine Trap. And as always if you enjoyed this video don't
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