Trans-alaskan Pipeline Flashcards
1
Q
Engineering designs that lessened the impacts of the pipeline?
A
- Pipeline is insulated or refrigerated to prevent permafrost from thawing
- Animal crossings at 550 locations
- 124,000 heating pipes transfer heat to the ground ensuring the soil is stable
2
Q
Economic impacts?
A
- Boomtowns
- Increase in population
- More services
- 70,000 workers were hired
- Larger output of oil
- Energy security
- Faster growing economy
3
Q
Social impacts?
A
- Higher crime rates
- Higher housing prices
- Racial tension between Inupiat people and foreign workers
- Displacement of Inupiat people
- Modernisation for Inupiat people
4
Q
Environmental impacts?
A
-Pipes have warned the permafrost causing un natural thawing which makes the soil saturated so vegetation finds it harder to grow and water resources become strained
5
Q
Cost to build?
A
$8 billion
6
Q
Important locations?
A
- Nearest ice free port is Valdez (where the pipe ends)
- Oil is found on the north slope of Alaska
- Highest point is Atigun Pass
7
Q
How much is buried underground?
A
-380 miles out of 700
8
Q
What started the construction of the pipeline?
A
The oil crisis in 1973, when an embargo was put on oil to western countries involved in the Yom Kippur, specifically the US.
