At Leask Two Alaskan Oil Spills

On March 6th, a 267,000 gallon oil spill was discovered at Prudhoe Bay. A second leak (or unknown size) was discovered on Friday 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle. On the heels of this news, The Senate Budget Committee approved a stand alone Budget item to allow drilling in ANWR.

According to the LA Times article, the cause of the spill was:

"Aging infrastructure, corroded pipes and failed leak-detection systems ensure that more big accidents like this are a matter of time," said Brandon, "especially if Congress opens up the refuge."

A BP oil industry official attempt to minimize the issue by saying:

""If you look at the fact that we've delivered 15 billion barrels of oil down that line since it opened, if you compare any amount of oil spilled, it's a tiny fraction," said Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for BP Exploration (Alaska), the operator of the pipeline stretch. There are 42 gallons to a barrel."

The first spill covers a two acre section at a caribou migration route (Defenders of Wildlife (3/07/06)

The spill could be the second largest in spill in North Slope history.

Contrary to the "environmentally safe" rhetoric about drilling in the North Slope as an argument for opening ANWR to drilling, the Defenders of Wildlife state:

This weekend's accident is just one in a long history of substantial spills seen on Alaska's fragile North Slope since development began there. In fact, despite industry hype about the safety of development and new technology, the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and Trans-Alaska Pipeline have caused an average of 504 spills annually on the North Slope since 1996, according to the Alaska's own Department of Environmental Conservation. Past spills have included a 300,000 crude oil spill from the Trans-Alaska pipeline that was detected as far as 166 miles away; a 110,000 gallon crude oil spill caused by a bulldozer which created a geyser that spewed oil over 20 acres of tundra wetlands; the infamous 285,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled into the boreal forest after a local hunter shot the pipeline with a high powered rifle; and the disastrous 675,000 gallons that were leaked after a saboteur exploded a two inch hole in the pipeline just a few miles north of Fairbanks.

. Posted by rowan at March 11, 2006 6:41 AM | [eMail this article!] |