Q: When the Alaska Pipeline was first conceived in the 1960s, the public discourse was much the same as we hear today regarding the Keystone Canadian project. Did that pipeline cause the environmental problems predicted by some and did its completion lower the cost of gasoline in the lower 48 as predicted by others?
—Jim Miller, Hoschton
A: The 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline has achieved a “high level of reliability and an outstanding safety and environmental record,” for nearly 35 years, John M. Miller, author of “The Last Alaskan Barrel: An Arctic Oil Bonanza that Never Was” (www.thelastalaskanbarrel.com), told Q&A on the News in an email. There have been several leaks over the years, according to media reports, including in both January and July of last year. Miller said there were concerns that the pipeline route would block caribou migration, but it was elevated in spots, so the herds could pass underneath. “Today, the caribou herd is 13 times larger,” he said. Oil and gas prices fell from 1980 through 2005, Miller said, as Alaskan, North Sea “and other new oil hit the markets and conservation efforts succeeded,” but Arctic Alaskan oil is expensive to produce and transport, “so the supply-demand relationship is complicated by the remote location and variable consumer demand over the years.” Miller said Alaskan oil has reduced the need to import more than 16 billion barrels of oil since the pipeline opened in 1977.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
About the Author
