Alaskan pipeline

Cultural  

1. An oil pipeline that runs eight hundred miles from oil reserves in Prudhoe Bay, on the northern coast of Alaska, to the port of Valdez, on Alaska's southern coast, from which the oil can be shipped to markets. Also called the Trans-Alaska pipeline.

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In 1989 an environmental disaster occurred when an oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, ran aground and leaked millions of gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, causing the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

After oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, construction of the pipeline was delayed for several years, as conservationists warned against the effects of the pipeline on the ecosystems through which it would run.

Example Sentences

One eye-catching exhibit consists of a gargantuan grizzly-bear hide tacked to a wall, the beast’s hind legs framing a piece of the Alaskan pipeline.

From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2017

He said BP, which had a string of accidents before the spill, including an Alaskan pipeline leak and a Texas City, Tex., refinery explosion, had failed to demonstrate that its corporate culture had changed.

From Washington Post • Mar. 13, 2014

Without more crude flowing through the Alaskan pipeline, concern was growing that the pipeline itself would deteriorate.

From New York Times • May 23, 2012

Browne was transformed from the all-conquering Sun King – as the FT described him – to a mere mortal after the Texas City refinery fire and Alaskan pipeline accidents badly knocked the share price.

From The Guardian • Jul. 27, 2010

Says Oil Consultant Walter Levy: "The fact that the oil companies don't have to spend $8 billion for an Alaskan pipeline is a major advantage."

From Time Magazine Archive