-Caveat Lector- Crude oil-saltwater spill soaks Alaskan tundra Copyright © 2001 Nando Media Copyright © 2001 Scripps Howard News Service By BEN SPIESS, Anchorage Daily News ANCHORAGE, Alaska (April 17, 2001 10:43 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - In what may be one of the largest spills ever on the North Slope, 92,400 gallons of crude oil and saltwater leaked from a pipeline at the Kuparuk, Alaska, oil field Sunday night. The mixture, which was more than 97 percent saltwater, leaked from a 10- inch pipeline at a temperature of more than 100 degrees. The spill saturated nearly an acre of tundra, said Ed Meggert, head of oil spill response with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in Fairbanks. No exact cause has been determined, but Meggert said "it looks like erosion or corrosion to the pipe is the cause." This is the fourth major spill on the North Slope this winter and the second due to erosion or corrosion. By midday Monday, Phillips, which operates the Kuparuk oil field, North America's second-largest, said it had cleaned up most of the spill. Corrosion from water and erosion from abrasive material such as sand is a growing problem on the North Slope. As Kuparuk and Prudhoe Bay age, the companies are grappling with internal pipe corrosion from water running through lines and external corrosion from water seeping between pipe insulation and hot steel pipe walls, where it eats at the metal. The accident timing is bad for Alaska's big oil companies - Phillips, BP and Exxon Mobil - and state leaders who are trying to put a positive spin on the oil industry's environmental record in an effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The refuge is about 90 miles east of existing oil fields and, according to government geologists, may hold the largest undeveloped oil reserves in the nation. The temperature was 9 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of the spill. While Meggert said that the oil content in the water was low, about 1 percent, the huge spill size means that independent of the saltwater, nearly 1,000 gallons of crude hit the tundra. That crude spill would be one of the 10 largest spills on the North Slope in the past five years, according to state statistics. The high temperature as it left the pipe may mean the mixture penetrated into the ground. Meggert said the saltwater may be more damaging to the tundra than oil. "It's just as toxic as diesel," he said. "The plants that normally grow die. The crude will only coat but the saltwater penetrates." By 1 p.m. Monday, Phillips spokeswoman Dawn Patience said, Phillips and its contractors had cleaned up more than 92,000 gallons of fluid. Much of that may have been snow and ice melted by the hot crude and water mixture. Meggert said that in the coming days the spill area will likely be diked with sandbags and flooded with freshwater and, possibly, a chemical agent to flush the salt and crude from the tundra. Meanwhile, the cause of the spill was under investigation. ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
