Oil Spill in Alaska? Since when?

[GTaudiophile]

News to me! Why hasn't this been reported? Pretty sad 🙁

ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? An oil spill in Alaska's North Slope could end up being one of the region's largest, officials said Wednesday as the cleanup continued.

Crews have recovered 58,590 gallons ? or 1,395 barrels ? of crude and snow since the pipeline spill was discovered Thursday in the Prudhoe Bay field, about 650 miles north of Anchorage. Most of the recovered material will probably turn out to be crude once the water is separated out, officials said.

That means the spill could be the largest ever in the North Slope, surpassing a 38,850-gallon spill in 1989. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons when it ran aground in Prince William Sound in 1989.

Lynda Giguere of the Alaska Department of Conservation said officials should have an estimate Thursday of how much crude spilled onto a two-acre area from the line, which leads to the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Temperatures are well below zero and are expected to approach 60 below in coming days, complicating the cleanup, officials said.

The North Slope is the region between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean and contains most of Alaska's petroleum reserves.

Source

 

[archiloco]

cuz the man does not want you to know, and thus drive up gas prices. wait a second they are going up as we speak.

 

[Viper GTS]

Because 60K gallons really isn't that much, and it's over land so the environmental impact is minimal.

In the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal.

BTW I take serious issue with your use of the word "HUGE." 1400 barrels and two acres of land affected is only marginally news worthy.

Viper GTS

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

That's like 83,000 dollars floating around.

 

[FoBoT]

that isn't huge :roll:

the Exxon Valdez spill was huge, it covered over 3,000 square miles and over 350 miles of beaches. that compared to 2 acres for this spill


p.s. we need to open ANWR to drilling ASAP

 

[Viper GTS]

To put 2 acres into perspective it's a piece of land less than 300' square.

Viper GTS

 

[sao123]

in other news, someone has put salt into the ocean... and now the ocean water is ... SALTY.



PS no-one told anyone because they knew someone like you would blow it completely out of proportion... and now well never be able to drill the alaskan oil reserves, because someone like you is afraid well ruin the alaskan tropical rainforests and destroy the home of the blue beaked do do bird.

 

[Queasy]

I think I'm going to drive my SUV up there and let it wallow around in the oil spill some.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
that isn't huge :roll:

No, not really.

As to why you guys haven't heard about it.... Nobody ever pays attention to anything that happens up here unless it has "ANWR" in the title. We're off the AP's radar.

I bet you also didn't know that we've had a volcano erupting for the better part of two months. (and two others that have belched occasionally over that time) That we had forest fires for the last two years that consumed an area bigger than Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

A lot of things that happen up here would be news-worthy if they happened anywhere else. But since they happen up here, nobody cares.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: FoBoT
that isn't huge :roll:

No, not really.

As to why you guys haven't heard about it.... Nobody ever pays attention to anything that happens up here unless it has "ANWR" in the title. We're off the AP's radar.

I bet you also didn't know that we've had a volcano erupting for the better part of two months. (and two others that have belched occasionally over that time) That we had forest fires for the last two years that consumed an area bigger than Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

A lot of things that happen up here would be news-worthy if they happened anywhere else. But since they happen up here, nobody cares.

STFU, if we don't care about you, that means the terrorists won't attack you.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Think of this as a 'Birthcontrol' method for the Caribou.
They don't vote or go the church, so who cares ?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: FoBoT
that isn't huge :roll:

No, not really.

As to why you guys haven't heard about it.... Nobody ever pays attention to anything that happens up here unless it has "ANWR" in the title. We're off the AP's radar.

I bet you also didn't know that we've had a volcano erupting for the better part of two months. (and two others that have belched occasionally over that time) That we had forest fires for the last two years that consumed an area bigger than Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

A lot of things that happen up here would be news-worthy if they happened anywhere else. But since they happen up here, nobody cares.

STFU, if we don't care about you, that means the terrorists won't attack you.

Oh trust me... I wasn't saying it like it was a bad thing. 😉

 

[Linflas]

I think this was reported a week or so ago but it is pretty small and they seem to have the recovery under control. Absent pictures of oil drenched postcard scenary and birds is probably why there is not more coverage.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: Linflas
I think this was reported a week or so ago but it is pretty small and they seem to have the recovery under control. Absent pictures of oil drenched postcard scenary and birds is probably why there is not more coverage.

To put it in perspective... it's a patch of ground about 300' x 300'. The ground is frozen and covered with snow and ice. It is unlikely that the crude will penetrate into the ground. Once the soiled snow and ice is removed, that'll pretty much be the end of the story. The overall impact will be minimal at most.

Would have been a much different story if this had happened in the summer.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Heh the news probably isn't making it a big deal for two reasons... one being what Whoozyerdaddy said... nobody gives a flying f^ck about what happens in Alaska. We're "some other country" according to half the US population, it seems. But also, given the intensive efforts to open up anwr, nobody's gonna want to spread the news of an oil spill and risk jeopardizing that. OK, so I greatly oversimplified but it's the only way my feeble mind can process anything political.

That little article also failed to mention that they expect a 100% cleanup due to the spill occurring on heavily frozen, snow-covered tundra. I would be very surprised if this spill had ANY effect whatsoever on the land because the only thing it's touched so far is the top layer of frozen snowpack.

I am not sure where the spill is exactly... I mean, I fly over the oil fields there on a regular basis and I haven't seen anything except pure white fields of snow as far as the eye can see, and an occasional cluster of buildings and pipes. It must be pretty tiny... two acres is not as large as I think, I think.