The Obama administration is setting the stage for the dismantling of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and poses the greatest threat to its existence today, according to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings.
The 800-mile pipeline cost $8 billion to construct in the 1970s, and has moved more than 18 billion barrels of crude oil. Three oil companies constructed it, in the face of significant opposition from environmentalists, in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo.
“Basically, what they’re doing is allowing the pipeline to dry up,” Hastings said. “The bottom line is, you need to have a certain flow of oil through the pipeline to keep it viable, especially when it’s wintertime … because [then] you have some infrastructure problems within the pipeline.”
FAIRBANKS, AK – JUNE 21: A buried section of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline emerges a few miles north of the Yukon River on July 21, 2002 in Fairbanks, Alaska. The 800 mile pipeline carries crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to the ice free port of Valdez, Alaska. (Photo by Barry Williams/Getty Images)
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