Alaska oil spill was largest ever on North Slope

[MadisonProgressive]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11743346/

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An estimated 201,000 to 267,000 gallons of crude oil spilled in the North Slope pipeline leak discovered March 2, state officials announced Friday.

That’s significantly more than what crews have so far recovered and much larger than the previous record for the North Slope — a 38,850-gallon spill in 1989.

But the new spill is still far less than the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill, which dumped 11 million gallons into the Prince William Sound.

The spill covers two acres and neared a lake on the frozen tundra. “A snow and ice ramp has been built to protect sensitive areas at the lake's edge,” officials said in a press release.

[WhiteTara]

1. damn them! n/t

[NYC]

2. I'll never forget the 4 page reply I got from Exxon

after the Valdez spill. In it, they pointed out the benefit that the spill had created jobs for the clean up.

I had asked them to pay for all the damage they had caused.

[northofdenali]

3. I wish they'd been there working on the cleanup

like I was. I didn't get paid. Neither did about 2/3 of us there helping out. We camped in equipment we brought, ate food we bought, used clean-up equipment we hauled in or stuff donated by locals.

The damage is ongoing. Exxon is still fighting off paying any damages, despite their record profits.

Boycott Exxon, folks. I haven't bought a drop of their gas since 1989. There's no Exxon gas stations left in Alaska.

[auracat]

13. hi,

i'm north of the 64th. ;)

[northofdenali]

17. It's so great to see more and more of us here -

and turning out for rallys and marching, and getting out the vote!!

I'm in frozen Fairbanks - where are you?

[auracat]

21. same. fbx.

downtown.

[northofdenali]

22. Let's have a meetup!! I'll PM you. n/t

[mom cat]

4. This should be getting much more coverage. ... K&R

[twaddler01]

16. I agree K&R

[donkeyotay]

5. There was no oil spill. If there was, it would have been on television

and everyone would know about it.
:sarcasm:

[auracat]

10. well,

i tried to post about it here, but my post was moved to energy/environment

[LiviaOlivia]

6. This spill should be named in honor of outgoing Interior Sec Norton

I hope the door hits you on the way out.

[dusty64]

7. And hardly a peep

from our fuckin corporate media. Just as the Arctic Refuge debate heats up AGAIN!

[NMDemDist2]

8. did they say what caused it? I know they said "corrosion" but I wonder

how much of it had to do with stresses on the pipeline due to the permafrost starting to melt?

[auracat]

11. the pipeline

is getting really old and breaking down. it needs repair, but no one wants to pay for that.

[enough]

9. K&R

[auracat]

12. another spill at kuparuk, today!

Meanwhile, officials on Friday reported another leak on the North Slope, this time in a 24-inch diameter pipeline carrying water with a trace of crude from wells to a processing plant operated by ConocoPhillips in Kuparuk, the slope's second-largest oil field after Prudhoe Bay.

The spill was discovered by a ConocoPhillips operator Thursday afternoon who noticed an icicle forming on the line, said company spokeswoman Dawn Patience. She said the drill site has been shut down, affecting 15 wells.

Neither the cause nor volume of crude spilled in this leak was immediately known, but it was not expected to be as large as the other spill, said DEC spokesman John Dixon. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AK_PRUDHOE_SPILL_AKOL-?SITE=AKFAI&SECTION=HOME



meanwhile, feingold's attempt to keep anwr out of the budget failed today, 9-11

[Colorado Blue]

14. &*&)+_(*(*&&.

Words fail.

[Colorado Blue]

15. Here's some more info:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060310/us_nm/environment_alaska_spill_dc

snip

Opponents of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil development said the Prudhoe Bay spill weakens claims that drilling and other operations could be conducted safely.

"By nature, the oil industry is a messy business," said Luci Beach, executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee, a group of Athabascan Indians opposed to oil development in the refuge.

Beach, who was in Washington, D.C., to campaign against Congressional attempts to allow drilling in the refuge, said she often encounters arguments that modern oil-field technology has eliminated environmental risks.

"Look at this huge spill. It kind of takes the air out of that argument," she said.

[Pharaoh]

18. Right on! K&R

not a damn thing in the media about it!

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. SO - if I were a terrorist, I'd think about how vulnerable that pipeline

is. In fact, there are so many unprotected opportunities to wreak carnage on the US environment, finances, and fuel supply, I'd be dizzy with the choices. Not to mention the - as far as I know - basically unexamined checked luggage stored in every passenger plane. The Bush Administration's "strong on security" pose is so transparently OPPOSITE to the truth, and this has been true from the first.

Almost a media blackout on this disaster. Good to see this story, at least.

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. Link to a March 7 DU thread on this spill:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x600513
thread title (3-7-06 GD): How Many DUers Have Heard About the Still Growing Major Alaskan Oil Spill?

From the first, this has gotten very little attention. After all, as pointed out upthread, the Bushies want to convince the public that drilling in the ANWR would be just routine and completely safe.