Alaskan pipeline in trouble due to melting ground - gonna cost bucks

http://www.democrats.com/node/3508


Forecast Earth: Alaska Meltdown

-snip-

These changes are also affecting the 800-mile-long
Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The pipeline was originally built in 1977 for $8 billion
to transport oil from the North Slope of Alaska to Port Valdez. Because roughly
75 percent of the territory covered by the pipeline is permafrost, 420 miles
run above ground on vertical supports to avoid thawing the ground.

Scientists have cautioned that warming temperatures
could likely compromise the integrity of the pipeline. Because the vertical
supports are drilled to depths of 15 to 70 feet – there is a concern that
roughly one-third of the supports may be moving as a result of warming
temperatures and thawing permafrost. Replacing a vertical support is estimated
to cost upwards of $85,000 apiece.

-snip-

Erosion evicts entire town: Waves are another weapon in
the arsenal of climate impacts that are changing Alaska. For example, the town of Shishmaref, home to a little less than 600, sits on a
barrier island at the westernmost part of Alaska. This barrier island is being
swallowed by the sea at the rate of up to 125 feet a year.

-snip-

You might think warmer temperatures would be
beneficial for the large tracts of
forests that cover much of southern Alaska.
But, in fact, Alaska’s
forests are hurting. A long run of warmer temperatures has paved the way for a
small beetle to devastate these beautiful forests. The spruce bark beetle,
which lives in and feeds on trees that drape the Kenai Peninsula, has killed
more trees in Alaska over the past 15 years than any other insect in North
American history.
-snip-
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the article says to consider Alaska the canary in the coalmine.


tick, tick, tick

Damn Bush to hell.

85K for a single vertical support, 75% of which need attention...

There are BIG bucks in this job, enough to cover all sorts of cost over runs and accounting errors...

is now threatening the oil supply. That creates quite a predicament for the GOP spin doctors. They may have to twist themselves in a few knots to spin this one.