Portions of the amazing 800-mile long Trans-Alaska Pipeline are not much more than a stone's throw from where we live. Here are a few facts garnered from the official web site:
"The Trans Alaska Pipeline System starts in Prudhoe Bay and stretches through rugged and beautiful terrain to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free point in America.
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System was designed and constructed to move oil from the North Slope of Alaska to the northern most ice-free port in Valdez, Alaska.
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System is protected by three separate leak detection systems that are monitored at the Operations Control Center in Anchorage.
Some 420 miles of the 800-mile-long pipeline is elevated on 78,000 vertical support members due to permafrost."
