There were 515 federal permits issued and 832 state permits issued. Seven temporary airfields were constructed, as well as, 29 construction camps. The largest camp had 3480 beds and the smallest had 112 beds. The total weight of materials shipped to Alaska was approximately 300 tons. Japanese steel mills shipped more than 100,000 lengths of 40 and 60-foot pipe. Welders in Valdez and Fairbanks then made 42,000 double joints connecting two sections of pipe together. On March 27, 1975 the first piece of pipe was set in place at the Tonsina River between Valdez and Copper Center. This is a project on the grandest scale. So how exactly does this whole thing work? Basically, the oil is pumped through a pipe that is 48" in diameter by a total of 12 pump stations positioned along the pipeline. Here is a picture of what it looks like:.
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(Courtesy of Alyeska Website).
The thickness of the pipe varies between 0.462 and 0.562 inches. Approximately 1.15 million barrels of oil move through the pipe on a daily basis. The oil travels at about 5.5 miles per hour and requires a little less than six days to travel the 800 miles. If the pipeline were full it would hold over 9 million barrels of oil; a barrel is 42 gallons of oil. A project of this magnitude does not happen without challenges. .
Challenges.
Before construction even began the project looked like it probably would never happen. The biggest challenge prior to construction were the concerns being raised by the environmentalists. Approximately 370,000 caribou summer on the North Slope. Because of its pristine condition the animals follow the same migration routes year after year. The fear was things like building crews and the pipeline itself would upset their migration patterns. Since caribou are so sensitive they will follow an impediment to its end rather than go under or over it. Another concern was fish that migrate through the North Slope area. Their migration cycles could easily be disturbed by construction activity.