NORTH SLOPE SUFFERS WORST OIL SPILL IN ARCTIC HISTORY
traveler
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Published: 14 March 2006
A burst pipeline in Alaska's North Slope has caused the Arctic region's
worst oil spill, spreading more than 250,000 gallons of crude oil over
an area used by caribou herds and prompting environmentalists again to
question the Bush administration's drive for more oil exploration
there.
The leak was first spotted by a British Petroleum worker 11 days ago,
and was reported to have been plugged a few days later. Initial hopes
expressed by BP that the spill was limited to a few tens of thousands
of gallons proved to be over-optimistic. Alaska's Department of
Environmental Conservation has steadily increased its estimate of the
size of the spill, the latest estimate putting it at around 265,000
gallons.
The leak, whose cause is unknown, occurred in a remote part of the most
sparsely populated state in the United States, and it remains to be
seen what damage, if any, it has done to ecosystems. It does, however,
give grist to groups who have challenged Washington's assertion that
oil can be prospected and shipped while leaving only the gentlest of
"footprints" on the landscape.
"This historic oil spill is a catastrophe for the environment," Natalie
Brandon, of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
"Tone-deaf politicians in Congress should now stop trying to push for
more drilling through sneaky manoeuvres ... The fact that the oil spill
occurred in a caribou crossing area in Prudhoe Bay is a painful
reminder of the reality of unchecked oil and gas development across
Alaska's North Slope."
The biggest battle has been over the fate of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, also on the North Slope, which the White House wants
to open up. The initiative, championed from the moment the Bush
administration took office in 2001, has been consistently blocked by
Congress but is periodically revived.
A second battle, meanwhile, is taking place in a previously untouched
corner of the National Petroleum Reserve on the North Slope. The Bush
administration has allowed oil companies to prospect for oil and gas in
an area covering 389,000 acres. Environmental groups have responded
with a federal lawsuit, filed last Friday, in which they contend that
the Department of the Interior has violated the Endangered Species Act
and other laws in an area noted for its flocks of migratory geese.
It is not just environmentalists who oppose the administration's plans.
Several prominent energy analysts, as well as Washington politicians,
argue that the likely yield in unexplored areas of the North Slope is
not large enough to justify the intrusion.
Alaskan politicians and industry lobby groups are heavily in favour of
expanding exploration as it would bring jobs and other benefits to the
state economy. The Bush administration, meanwhile, argues that further
domestic exploration is essential if the United States wants to
decrease its dependence on oil and gas from the Middle East.
Accidents and leaks have periodically occurred on the North Slope, and
along the trans-Alaska pipeline that takes crude from Prudhoe Bay
across two mountain ranges to the port of Valdez on the shores of the
North Pacific. Saboteurs blew up a section of pipeline shortly after it
opened in the 1970s, starting a major spillage. A hunter accidentally
fired into the pipeline five years ago, causing $7m (£3.6m) worth of
damage.
A burst pipeline in Alaska's North Slope has caused the Arctic region's
worst oil spill, spreading more than 250,000 gallons of crude oil over
an area used by caribou herds and prompting environmentalists again to
question the Bush administration's drive for more oil exploration
there.
The leak was first spotted by a British Petroleum worker 11 days ago,
and was reported to have been plugged a few days later. Initial hopes
expressed by BP that the spill was limited to a few tens of thousands
of gallons proved to be over-optimistic. Alaska's Department of
Environmental Conservation has steadily increased its estimate of the
size of the spill, the latest estimate putting it at around 265,000
gallons.
The leak, whose cause is unknown, occurred in a remote part of the most
sparsely populated state in the United States, and it remains to be
seen what damage, if any, it has done to ecosystems. It does, however,
give grist to groups who have challenged Washington's assertion that
oil can be prospected and shipped while leaving only the gentlest of
"footprints" on the landscape.
"This historic oil spill is a catastrophe for the environment," Natalie
Brandon, of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
"Tone-deaf politicians in Congress should now stop trying to push for
more drilling through sneaky manoeuvres ... The fact that the oil spill
occurred in a caribou crossing area in Prudhoe Bay is a painful
reminder of the reality of unchecked oil and gas development across
Alaska's North Slope."
The biggest battle has been over the fate of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, also on the North Slope, which the White House wants
to open up. The initiative, championed from the moment the Bush
administration took office in 2001, has been consistently blocked by
Congress but is periodically revived.
A second battle, meanwhile, is taking place in a previously untouched
corner of the National Petroleum Reserve on the North Slope. The Bush
administration has allowed oil companies to prospect for oil and gas in
an area covering 389,000 acres. Environmental groups have responded
with a federal lawsuit, filed last Friday, in which they contend that
the Department of the Interior has violated the Endangered Species Act
and other laws in an area noted for its flocks of migratory geese.
It is not just environmentalists who oppose the administration's plans.
Several prominent energy analysts, as well as Washington politicians,
argue that the likely yield in unexplored areas of the North Slope is
not large enough to justify the intrusion.
Alaskan politicians and industry lobby groups are heavily in favour of
expanding exploration as it would bring jobs and other benefits to the
state economy. The Bush administration, meanwhile, argues that further
domestic exploration is essential if the United States wants to
decrease its dependence on oil and gas from the Middle East.
Accidents and leaks have periodically occurred on the North Slope, and
along the trans-Alaska pipeline that takes crude from Prudhoe Bay
across two mountain ranges to the port of Valdez on the shores of the
North Pacific. Saboteurs blew up a section of pipeline shortly after it
opened in the 1970s, starting a major spillage. A hunter accidentally
fired into the pipeline five years ago, causing $7m (£3.6m) worth of
damage.