The Baird Mountains are a mountain range located northeast of the Kotzebue Sound , in between the Kobuk and Noatak Rivers in Alaska. The range was named after Smithsonian Institution Secretary Spencer F. Baird .
100-502: The Baird Mountains are located at 66°36′N 160°02′W / 66.60°N 160.04°W / 66.60; -160.04 in the Western Brooks mountain range in northwestern Alaska, consisting of 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers). The mountains are approximately sixty miles (100 kilometers) northeast of the town of Kotzebue, Alaska . Although the mountains seem much greater in size due to their closeness to
200-600: A boomtown atmosphere in Valdez , Fairbanks , and Anchorage . The first barrel of oil traveled through the pipeline in the summer of 1977, with full-scale production by the end of the year. Several notable incidents of oil leakage have occurred since, including those caused by sabotage, maintenance failures, and bullet holes. As of 2015, it had shipped over 17 billion barrels (2.7 × 10 m ) of oil. The pipeline has been shown capable of delivering over two million barrels of oil per day but nowadays usually operates at
300-679: A $ 100 million contract for more than 800 miles (1280 km) of pipeline. At the same time, TAPS placed a $ 30 million order for the first of the enormous pumps that would be needed to push the oil through the pipeline. In June 1969, as the SS Manhattan traveled through the Northwest Passage, TAPS formally applied to the Interior Department for a permit to build an oil pipeline across 800 miles (1,300 km) of public land—from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The application
400-567: A 17.2% increase in annual precipitation. As measured at the Anaktuvuk Pass weather station (elevation 770 metres (2,530 ft)), the average summer temperatures are 16 °C (61 °F) as a high and 3 °C (37 °F) as a low. During the winter the average high is −22 °C (−8 °F) while the average low is −30 °C (−22 °F). Polar amplification is a force experienced in this region as global temperatures are rising. The northern and western regions of Alaska, where
500-532: A discovery well. On March 12, 1968, an Atlantic Richfield drilling crew hit paydirt. A discovery well began flowing at the rate of 1,152 barrels (183.2 m ) of oil per day. On June 25, ARCO announced that a second discovery well likewise was producing oil at a similar rate. Together, the two wells confirmed the existence of the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field . The new field contained more than 25 billion barrels (4.0 × 10 ^ m ) of oil, making it
600-486: A federal right-of-way for the pipeline and transportation highway was granted on January 3, 1974. The deal was signed by the oil companies on January 23, allowing work to start. Although the legal right-of-way was cleared by January 1974, cold weather, the need to hire workers, and construction of the Dalton Highway meant work on the pipeline itself did not begin until March. Between 1974 and July 28, 1977, when
700-527: A fraction of maximum capacity. If flow were to stop or throughput were too little, the line could freeze. The pipeline could be extended and used to transport oil produced from controversial proposed drilling projects in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Iñupiat people on the North Slope of Alaska had mined oil-saturated peat for possibly thousands of years, using it as fuel for heat and light. Whalers who stayed at Point Barrow saw
800-578: A legal dispute over pipeline tariffs generated a one-time payment of more than $ 1.5 billion from the oil companies. The Constitutional Budget reserve is run similar to the Permanent Fund, but money from it can be withdrawn to pay for the state's annual budget, unlike the Permanent Fund. Although the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began pumping oil in 1977, it did not have a major immediate impact on global oil prices. This
900-487: A port at Prudhoe Bay, and more—were deemed to pose more environmental risks than construction of a pipeline directly across Alaska. Opposition also was directed at the building of the construction and maintenance highway parallel to the pipeline. Although a clause in Alyeska's pipeline proposal called for removal of the pipeline at a certain point, no such provision was made for removal of the road. Sydney Howe, president of
1000-651: A solution to the problem, and President Richard Nixon began lobbying for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as at least a part of the answer. Nixon supported the pipeline project even before the oil crisis. On September 10, 1973, he released a message stating that the pipeline was his priority for the remainder of the Congressional session that year. On November 8, after the embargo had been in place for three weeks, he reaffirmed that statement. Members of Congress, under pressure from their constituents, created
1100-588: A two pronged survey using bush aircraft , local Inupiat guides, and personnel from multiple agencies to locate reported seeps. Ebbley and Joesting reported on these initial forays in 1943. Starting in 1944, the U.S. Navy funded oil exploration near Umiat Mountain , on the Colville River in the foothills of the Brooks Range . Surveyors from the U.S. Geological Survey spread across the petroleum reserve and worked to determine its extent until 1953, when
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#17327761924731200-779: A water pipeline with the same diameter of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which caribou were able to jump over. To those who argued that the pipeline would irrevocably alter Alaska wilderness, proponents pointed to the overgrown remnants of the Fairbanks Gold Rush , most of which had been erased 70 years later. Some pipeline opponents were satisfied by Alyeska's preliminary design, which incorporated underground and raised crossings for caribou and other big game, gravel and styrofoam insulation to prevent permafrost melting, automatic leak detection and shutoff, and other techniques. Other opponents, including fishermen who feared tanker leaks south of Valdez, maintained their disagreement with
1300-611: Is an 800-mile (1,287 km) long, 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter pipeline that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay , on Alaska's North Slope , south to Valdez , on the shores of Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company . Oil was first discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968 and the 800 miles of 48" steel pipe was ordered from Japan in 1969 (U.S. steel manufacturers did not have
1400-556: Is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline , 12 pump stations , several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. The core pipeline itself, which is commonly called the Alaska pipeline , trans-Alaska pipeline , or Alyeska pipeline , (or The pipeline as referred to by Alaskan residents),
1500-749: Is believed to be approximately 126 million years old. In the United States, these mountains are considered a subrange of the Rocky Mountains , whereas in Canada they are considered separate, as the northern border of the Rocky Mountains is considered to be the Liard River far to the south in the province of British Columbia . While the range is mostly uninhabited, the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline System run through
1600-490: Is heaviest during the summer, bringing warmer temperatures along with common convective showers, in which the intensity of the rain quickly changes. Temperatures range from as low as c. 35 °F to as high as 90 °F, averaging from about 50 °F to 60 °F. Spring and autumn come and go rather quickly, lingering for only six to eight weeks. Daylight periods change as the seasons change. From May to August, darkness does not linger for long. Instead of rising or setting,
1700-572: Is located in Canada's British Mountains. Bob Marshall explored the North Fork Koyukuk River area of the range in 1929. He named Mount Doonerak, explaining "the name Doonerak I took from an Eskimo word which means a spirit or, as they would translate it, a devil." Marshall described the mountain as, a "towering, black, unscalable-looking giant, the highest peak in this section of the Brooks Range." The Brooks Range forms
1800-487: Is not uncommon for cold spells of -40 °F to -50 °F to last from one to three weeks. The level of snowfall can reach approximately 100 inches in the mountains to about 45 inches in lower elevations. Gale winds and snow from storms that blow in from the coast interrupt this below-freezing period, causing temperatures to rise from 0 °F to 20 °F or higher. The other extremity consists of summer, which only lasts for three months, from June to August. Precipitation
1900-440: Is partly because it took several years to reach full production and partly because U.S. production outside Alaska declined until the mid-1980s. The Iranian Revolution and OPEC price increases triggered the 1979 energy crisis despite TAPS production increases. Oil prices remained high until the late 1980s, when a stable international situation, the removal of price controls, and the peak of production at Prudhoe Bay contributed to
2000-639: The Atigun Pass (1,415 m, 4,643 ft) on their way to the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope . The Alaska Native villages of Anaktuvuk and Arctic Village , as well as the very small communities of Coldfoot , Wiseman , Bettles , and Chandalar , are the range's only settlements. In the far west, near the Wulik River in the De Long Mountains is the Red Dog mine ,
2100-558: The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for its support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War . Because the United States imported approximately 35 percent of its oil from foreign sources, the embargo had a major effect. The price of gasoline shot upward, gasoline shortages were common, and rationing was considered. Most Americans began demanding
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#17327761924732200-605: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act , which removed all legal barriers from construction of the pipeline, provided financial incentives, and granted a right-of-way for its construction. The act was drafted, rushed through committee, and approved by the House on November 12, 1973, by a vote of 361–14–60. The next day, the Senate passed it, 80–5–15. Nixon signed it into law on November 16, and
2300-607: The United States Department of Agriculture set aside 16,000,000 acres (64,750 km ) of Southeast Alaska as the Tongass National Forest . Tlingit natives who lived in the area protested that the land was theirs and had been unfairly taken. In 1935, Congress passed a law allowing the Tlingits to sue for recompense, and the resulting case dragged on until 1968, when a $ 7.5 million settlement
2400-682: The United States Department of the Interior to begin geological and engineering studies of a proposed oil pipeline route from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, across Alaska. Even before the first feasibility studies began, the oil companies had chosen the approximate route of the pipeline. Because TAPS hoped to begin laying pipe by September 1969, substantial orders were placed for steel pipeline 48 inches (122 cm) in diameter. No American company manufactured pipe of that specification, so three Japanese companies— Sumitomo Metal Industries , Nippon Steel Corporation and Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha—received
2500-758: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia , ordered the Interior Department to not issue a construction permit for a section of the project that crossed one of the claims. Less than two weeks later, Hart heard arguments from conservation groups that the TAPS project violated the Mineral Leasing Act and the National Environmental Policy Act , which had gone into effect at the start of
2600-846: The Wilderness Society , Friends of the Earth , and the Environmental Defense Fund in their Spring 1970 lawsuit to stop the project. The injunction against the project forced Alyeska to do further research throughout the summer of 1970. The collected material was turned over to the Interior Department in October 1970, and a draft environmental impact statement was published in January 1971. The 294-page statement drew massive criticism, generating more than 12,000 pages of testimony and evidence in Congressional debates by
2700-541: The coral fossils shown, trilobites and brachiopods from the middle Cambrian have been found in the sandy limestones of the Central Brooks Range. During the middle of the Cretaceous, the Brooks Range thrust belt underwent significant regional extension. Remains of a woolly mammoth that died about 17,100 years ago were found north of the Brooks Range. A research report on its movement range
2800-612: The 123,000 animal Porcupine Caribou herd, likewise migrate through the Brooks range on their annual journeys in and out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The migration path of the Porcupine Caribou herd is the longest of any terrestrial mammal on earth. Because the rocks of the range were formed in an ancient seabed, the Brooks Range contains fossils of marine organisms . In addition to
2900-535: The Alaska Legislature and governor Jay Hammond proposed the creation of an Alaska Permanent Fund —a long-term savings account for the state. This measure required a constitutional amendment, which was duly passed in November 1976. The amendment requires at least 25 percent of mineral extraction revenue to be deposited in the Permanent Fund. On February 28, 1977, the first deposit—$ 734,000—was put into
3000-542: The Alaska Pipeline, engineers faced a wide range of difficulties, stemming mainly from the extreme cold and the difficult, isolated terrain. The construction of the pipeline was one of the first large-scale projects to deal with problems caused by permafrost , and special construction techniques had to be developed to cope with the frozen ground. The project attracted tens of thousands of workers to Alaska due to high wages, long work hours, and paid-for housing, causing
3100-454: The Alaska economy during the construction effort and the years afterward. In addition, the taxes paid by those companies altered the tax structure of the state. By 1982, five years after the pipeline started transporting oil, 86.5 percent of Alaska revenue came directly from the petroleum industry. The series of taxes levied on oil production in Alaska has changed several times since 1977, but
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3200-543: The Brooks Range lies, is experiencing a warming rate twice that of southeastern Alaska. The Brooks Range has experienced an increase in average summer temperature between 4.2 °F and 5.8 °F between the years 1969–2018. In certain areas of the Brooks Range, year round snow cover or "perennial snowfields", can be found. In 1985, 34 square miles of snowfields were recorded, where as that number has dropped to under four square miles in 2017. Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System ( TAPS )
3300-479: The Brooks Range, though they are limited to sites that have been disturbed by human activity. Southern slopes have some cover of black spruce , Picea mariana , marking the northern limit of those trees. As the global mean temperature increases, tree line has been observed to move further north, changing the boundaries of where these trees are found. An increase in shrub abundance is also being experienced in areas which were previously dominated by tundra, impacting
3400-491: The Conservation Foundation, warned: "The oil might last for fifty years. A road would remain forever." This argument relied upon the slow growth of plants and animals in far northern Alaska due to the harsh conditions and short growing season. In testimony, an environmentalist argued that arctic trees, though only a few feet tall, had been seedlings "when George Washington was inaugurated". The portion of
3500-418: The House and Senate committees with oversight of the project, Hickel was given the authority to lift the land freeze and give the go-ahead to TAPS. TAPS began issuing letters of intent to contractors for construction of the "haul road", a highway running the length of the pipeline route to be used for construction. Heavy equipment was prepared, and crews prepared to go to work after Hickel gave permission and
3600-627: The Interior Rogers Morton allowed 45 days of comment after the release, and conservationists created a 1,300-page document opposing the impact statement. This document failed to sway Judge Hart, who lifted the injunction on the project on August 15, 1972. The environmental groups that had filed the injunction appealed the decision, and on October 6, 1972, the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., partially reversed Hart's decision. The appeals court said that although
3700-495: The Minerals Leasing Act did not cover the pipeline's requirements, Alyeska and the oil companies began lobbying Congress to either amend the act or create a new law that would permit a larger right-of-way. The Senate Interior Committee began the first hearings on a series of bills to that effect on March 9, 1973. Environmental opposition switched from contesting the pipeline on NEPA grounds to fighting an amendment to
3800-591: The Navy suspended funding for the project. The USGS found several oil fields, most notably the Alpine and Umiat Oil Field , but none were cost-effective to develop. Four years after the Navy suspended its survey, Richfield Oil Corporation (later Atlantic Richfield and ARCO) drilled an enormously successful oil well near the Swanson River in southern Alaska, near Kenai . The resulting Swanson River Oil Field
3900-574: The Permanent Fund. That deposit and subsequent ones were invested entirely in bonds, but debates quickly arose about the style of investments and what they should be used for. In 1980, the Alaska Legislature created the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to manage the investments of the Permanent Fund, and it passed the Permanent Fund Dividend program, which provided for annual payments to Alaskans from
4000-637: The Sagavanirktok River forced workers to come up with solutions for unforeseen problems. Faulty welds and accusations of poor quality control caused a Congressional investigation that ultimately revealed little. More than $ 8 billion was spent to build the 800 miles (1,300 km) of pipeline, the Valdez Marine Terminal, and 12 pump stations. The construction effort also had a human toll. Thirty-two Alyeska and contract employees died from causes directly related to construction. That figure does not include common carrier casualties. Construction of
4100-480: The Senate. The amendment declared that the pipeline project fulfilled all aspects of NEPA and modified the Mineral Leasing Act to allow the larger right-of-way for the Alaska pipeline. Upon reconsideration , the vote was tied at 49–49 and required the vote of vice president Spiro Agnew , who supported the amendment; a similar amendment was passed in the House on August 2. On October 17, 1973,
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4200-470: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Hearings in both the U.S. Senate and the House continued through the summer of 1973 on both new bills and amendments to the Mineral Leasing Act. On July 13, an amendment calling for more study of the project—the Mondale-Bayh Amendment—was defeated. This was followed by another victory for pipeline proponents when an amendment by Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel was passed by
4300-435: The United States. These reserves were areas thought to be rich in oil and set aside for future drilling by the U.S. Navy. Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 was sited in Alaska's far north, just south of Barrow, and encompassed 23,000,000 acres (93,078 km ). The first explorations of NPR-4 were undertaken by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1923 to 1925 and focused on mapping, identifying and characterizing coal resources in
4400-477: The area's remoteness and harsh climate. It was estimated that between 200,000,000 barrels (32,000,000 m ) and 500,000,000 barrels (79,000,000 m ) of oil would have to be recovered to make a North Slope oil field commercially viable. In 1967, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) began detailed survey work in the Prudhoe Bay area. By January 1968, reports began circulating that natural gas had been discovered by
4500-446: The beginning of time. Alaska historian Terrence Cole Since the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1977, the government of the state of Alaska has been reliant on taxes paid by oil producers and shippers. Prior to 1976, Alaska's personal income tax rate was 14.5 percent—the highest in the United States. The gross state product was $ 8 billion, and Alaskans earned $ 5 billion in personal income. Thirty years after
4600-547: The capacity at that time). However, construction was delayed for nearly 5 years due to legal and environmental issues. The eight oil companies that owned the rights to the oil hired Bechtel for the pipeline design and construction and Fluor for the 12 pump stations and the Valdez Terminal. Preconstruction work during 1973 and 1974 was critical and included the building of camps to house workers, construction of roads and bridges where none existed, and carefully laying out
4700-658: The city of 15,000 people. Trouble was incited sometimes by prostitutes' pimps , who engaged in turf fights . In 1976, police responded to a shootout between warring pimps who wielded automatic firearms . By and large, however, the biggest police issue was the number of drunken brawls and fighting. On the pipeline itself, thievery was a major problem. Poor accounting and record keeping allowed large numbers of tools and large amounts of equipment to be stolen. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1975 that as many as 200 of Alyeska's 1,200 yellow-painted trucks were missing from Alaska and "scattered from Miami to Mexico City". Alyeska denied
4800-403: The coasts vary depending on their elevation, climate, soil and fire history. Brooks Range The Brooks Range ( Gwich'in : Gwazhał ) is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some 700 miles (1,100 km) from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada 's Yukon Territory . Reaching a peak elevation of 8,976 feet (2,736 m) on Mount Isto , the range
4900-812: The demand, a Fairbanks high school ran in two shifts: one in the morning and the other in the afternoon in order to teach students who also worked eight hours per day. More wages and more people meant higher demand for goods and services. Waiting in line became a fact of life in Fairbanks, and the Fairbanks McDonald's became No. 2 in the world for sales—behind only the recently opened Stockholm store. Alyeska and its contractors bought in bulk from local stores, causing shortages of everything from cars to tractor parts, water softener salt, batteries and ladders. The large sums of money being made and spent caused an upsurge in crime and illicit activity in towns along
5000-420: The disruption caused by the pipeline would scare away the whales and caribou that are relied upon for food. In both the courts and Congress, Alyeska and the oil companies fought for the pipeline's construction amidst opposition concerning the pipeline's EIS (environmental impact statement). The arguments continued through 1971. Objections about the caribou herds were countered by observations of Davidson Ditch ,
5100-484: The ecology of the area. As one of the most remote and least-disturbed wildernesses of North America, the mountains are home to Dall sheep , grizzly bears , black bear , gray wolf , moose and porcupine caribou . In Alaska, the Western Arctic Caribou herd (490,000 strong in 2004) traverses the Brooks Range in its annual migration. The smaller Central Arctic herd (32,000 in 2002), as well as
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#17327761924735200-465: The end of March. Criticisms of the project included its effect on the Alaska tundra , possible pollution, harm to animals, geographic features, and the lack of much engineering information from Alyeska. One element of opposition the report quelled was the discussion of alternatives. All the proposed alternatives—extension of the Alaska Railroad, an alternative route through Canada, establishing
5300-527: The environmental debate with the biggest symbolic impact took place when discussing the pipeline's impact on caribou herds. Environmentalists proposed that the pipeline would have an effect on caribou similar to the effect of the U.S. transcontinental railroad on the American bison population of North America. Pipeline critics said the pipeline would block traditional migration routes, making caribou populations smaller and making them easier to hunt. This idea
5400-579: The fall of 1969, the Department of the Interior and TAPS set about bypassing the land freeze by obtaining waivers from the various native villages that had claims to a portion of the proposed right of way. By the end of September, all the relevant villages had waived their right-of-way claims, and Secretary of the Interior Wally Hickel asked Congress to lift the land freeze for the entire TAPS project. After several months of questioning by
5500-651: The field, the Boeing RC-1 . General Dynamics proposed a line of tanker submarines for travel beneath the Arctic ice cap , and another group proposed extending the Alaska Railroad to Prudhoe Bay. To test this, in 1969 Humble Oil and Refining Company sent a specially fitted oil tanker, the SS ; Manhattan , to test the feasibility of transporting oil via ice-breaking tankers to market. The Manhattan
5600-422: The first barrel of oil reached Valdez, tens of thousands of people worked on the pipeline. Thousands of workers came to Alaska, attracted by the prospect of high-paying jobs at a time when most of the rest of the United States was undergoing a recession. Construction workers endured long hours, cold temperatures, and brutal conditions. Difficult terrain, particularly in Atigun Pass , Keystone Canyon , and near
5700-707: The five villages along the Kobuk River in the Baird Mountains region for thousands of years. They are hunter-gatherers and are amongst the few people who continue to live by such a lifestyle in North America. The Jade Mountains within the Baird Range have historically been an important source of minerals to the Iñupiaq people . Pre-contact, jade was one of the strongest materials available and
5800-522: The high salaries paid to pipeline workers, who were eager to spend their money. The high salaries caused a corresponding demand for higher wages among non-pipeline workers in Alaska. Non-pipeline businesses often could not keep up with the demand for higher wages, and job turnover was high. Yellow cab in Fairbanks had a turnover rate of 800 percent; a nearby restaurant had a turnover rate of more than 1,000 percent. Many positions were filled by high school students promoted above their experience level. To meet
5900-630: The impact statement followed the guidelines set by the National Environmental Policy Act, it did not follow the Minerals Leasing Act , which allowed for a smaller pipeline right of way than was required for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The oil companies and Alyeska appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in April 1973, the court declined to hear the case. With the appeals court having decided that
6000-514: The interest earned by the fund. After two years of legal arguments about who should be eligible for payments, the first checks were distributed to Alaskans. After peaking at more than $ 40 billion in 2007, the fund's value declined to approximately $ 26 billion as of summer 2009. In addition to the Permanent Fund, the state also maintains the Constitutional Budget Reserve , a separate savings account established in 1990 after
6100-418: The largest in North America and the 18th largest in the world. The problem soon became how to develop the oil field and ship product to U.S. markets. Pipeline systems represent a high initial cost but lower operating costs, but no pipeline of the necessary length had yet been constructed. Several other solutions were offered. Boeing proposed a series of gigantic 12-engine tanker aircraft to transport oil from
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#17327761924736200-646: The largest zinc mine in the world. The range was named by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1925 after Alfred Hulse Brooks , chief USGS geologist for Alaska from 1903 to 1924. Various historical records also referred to the range as the Arctic Mountains, Hooper Mountains, Meade Mountains and Meade River Mountains. The Canadian portion of the range is officially called the British Mountains . Ivvavik National Park
6300-493: The leasing act or a new bill. By the spring and summer of 1973, these opposition groups attempted to persuade Congress to endorse a Trans-Canada oil pipeline or a railroad. They believed the "leave it in the ground" argument was doomed to fail, and the best way to oppose the pipeline would be to propose an ineffective alternative which could be easily defeated. The problem with this approach was that any such alternative would cover more ground and be more damaging environmentally than
6400-529: The legal injunction against pipeline construction. In October 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Under the act, Native groups would renounce their land claims in exchange for $ 962.5 million and 148.5 million acres (601,000 km ) in federal land. The money and land were split up among village and regional corporations, which then distributed shares of stock to Natives in
6500-403: The maximum tax rate on profits is 50 percent. The rate fluctuates based on the cost of oil, with lower prices incurring lower tax rates. The state also claims 12.5 percent of all oil produced in the state. This "royalty oil" is not taxed but is sold back to the oil companies, generating additional revenue. At a local level, the pipeline owners pay property taxes on the portions of the pipeline and
6600-585: The northernmost drainage divide in North America, separating streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific. The range roughly delineates the summer position of the Arctic front. It represents the northern extent of the tree line , with little beyond isolated balsam poplar stands occurring north of the continental drainage divide. Trembling aspen and white spruce also occur north of
6700-444: The other fields on the North Slope since 1977 is worth more than all the fish ever caught, all the furs ever trapped, all the trees chopped down; throw in all the copper, whalebone, natural gas, tin, silver, platinum, and anything else ever extracted from Alaska too. The balance sheet of Alaskan history is simple: One Prudhoe Bay is worth more in real dollars than everything that has been dug out, cut down, caught or killed in Alaska since
6800-454: The overall form remains mostly the same. Alaska receives royalties from oil production on state land. The state also has a property tax on oil production structures and transportation (pipeline) property—the only state property tax in Alaska. There is a special corporate income tax on petroleum companies, and the state taxes the amount of petroleum produced. This production tax is levied on the cost of oil at Pump Station 1. To calculate this tax,
6900-415: The pipeline began operating, the state had no personal income tax, the gross state product was $ 39 billion, and Alaskans earned $ 25 billion in personal income. Alaska moved from the most heavily taxed state to the most tax-free state. The difference was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the taxes and revenue it brought to Alaska. Alyeska and the oil companies injected billions of dollars into
7000-415: The pipeline caused a massive economic boom in towns up and down the pipeline route. Prior to construction, most residents in towns like Fairbanks—still recovering from the devastating 1967 Fairbanks Flood —strongly supported the pipeline. By 1976, after the town's residents had endured a spike in crime, overstressed public infrastructure, and an influx of people unfamiliar with Alaska customs, 56 percent said
7100-412: The pipeline facilities that lay within districts that impose a property tax. This property tax is based on the pipeline's value (as assessed by the state) and the local property tax rate. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough , for example, pipeline owners paid $ 9.2 million in property taxes—approximately 10 percent of all property taxes paid in the borough. The enormous amount of public revenue created by
7200-585: The pipeline had changed Fairbanks for the worse. The boom was even greater in Valdez, where the population jumped from 1,350 in 1974 to 6,512 by the summer of 1975 and 8,253 in 1976. This increase in population caused many adverse effects. Home prices skyrocketed—a home that sold for $ 40,000 in 1974 was purchased for $ 80,000 in 1975. In Valdez, lots of land that sold for $ 400 in the late 1960s went for $ 4,000 in 1973, $ 8,000 in 1974, and $ 10,000 in 1975. Home and apartment rentals were correspondingly squeezed upward by
7300-502: The pipeline project before 1970, the introduction of the National Environmental Policy Act allowed them legal grounds to halt the project. Arctic engineers had raised concerns about the way plans for a subterranean pipeline showed ignorance of Arctic engineering and permafrost in particular. A clause in NEPA requiring a study of alternatives and another clause requiring an environmental impact statement turned those concerns into tools used by
7400-427: The pipeline provoked debates about what to do with the windfall. The record $ 900 million created by the Prudhoe Bay oil lease sale took place at a time when the entire state budget was less than $ 118 million, yet the entire amount created by the sale was used up by 1975. Taxes on the pipeline and oil carried by it promised to bring even more money into state coffers. To ensure that oil revenue wasn't spent as it came in,
7500-433: The pipeline right of way to avoid difficult river crossings and animal habitats. Construction of the pipeline system took place between 1975 and 1977. It was important for the United States to have a domestic source of oil to offset the high rise in foreign oil and the Alaska Pipeline fulfilled that obligation. Building oil pipelines in the 1950s and 60s was not difficult in the contiguous United States . However, in building
7600-513: The pipeline route. This was exacerbated by the fact that police officers and state troopers resigned in large groups to become pipeline security guards at wages far in excess of those available in public-sector jobs. Fairbanks' Second Avenue became a notorious hangout for prostitutes , and dozens of bars operated throughout town. In 1975, the Fairbanks Police Department estimated between 40 and 175 prostitutes were working in
7700-403: The plan. All the arguments both for and against the pipeline were incorporated into the 3,500-page, 9-volume final environmental impact statement, which was released on March 20, 1972. Although Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens felt the statement "was not written by a proponent," it maintained the general approval for pipeline construction that was demonstrated in the draft statement. U.S. Secretary of
7800-412: The problem and said only 20–30 trucks were missing. The theft problem was typified by pipeliners' practice of mailing empty boxes to pipeline camps. The boxes then would be filled with items and shipped out. After Alyeska ruled that all packages had to be sealed in the presence of a security guard, the number of packages being sent from camps dropped by 75 percent. The wealth generated by Prudhoe Bay and
7900-517: The proposed route and plan. Max Brewer , an arctic expert in charge of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory at Barrow, concluded that the plan to bury most of the pipeline was completely unfeasible because of the abundance of permafrost along the route. In a report, Brewer said the hot oil conveyed by the pipeline would melt the underlying permafrost, causing the pipeline to fail as its support turned to mud. This report
8000-400: The region or village. The shares paid dividends based on both the settlement and corporation profits. To pipeline developers, the most important aspect of ANCSA was the clause dictating that no Native allotments could be selected in the path of the pipeline. Another objection of the natives was the potential for the pipeline to disrupt a traditional way of life. Many natives were worried that
8100-653: The rising prices and the demand from pipeline workers. Two-room log cabins with no plumbing rented for $ 500 per month. One two-bedroom home in Fairbanks housed 45 pipeline workers who shared beds on a rotating schedule for $ 40 per week. In Valdez, an apartment that rented for $ 286 per month in December 1974 cost $ 520 per month in March 1975 and $ 1,600 per month—plus two mandatory roommates—in April 1975. Hotel rooms were sold out as far away as Glenallen, 115 miles (185 km) north of Valdez. The skyrocketing prices were driven by
8200-506: The rivers, they are not very large when compared with the other Alaskan mountains that have elevations from 1,000 to 4,500 feet. The Baird Mountains have an elevation that reaches to approximately 3,000 feet (900 m), with its highest peak at Mount Angayukaqsraq, which measures at 4,700 ft (1,433 m). The Kuuvanmiit Eskimos, a branch of the Iñupiat Eskimos who have resided among polar regions from Alaska to Greenland, have lived in
8300-621: The seepages in 1836. Similar seepages were found at the Canning River in 1919 by Ernest de Koven Leffingwell . Following the First World War , as the United States Navy converted its ships from coal to fuel oil , a stable supply of oil became important to the U.S. government. Accordingly, President Warren G. Harding established by executive order a series of Naval Petroleum Reserves (NPR-1 through -4) across
8400-450: The snow melted. Before Hickel could act, however, several Alaska Native and conservation groups asked a judge in Washington, D.C., to issue an injunction against the project. Several of the native villages that had waived claims on the right of way reneged because TAPS had not chosen any Native contractors for the project and the contractors chosen were not likely to hire Native workers. On April 1, 1970, Judge George Luzerne Hart, Jr. , of
8500-412: The state takes the market value of the oil, subtracts transportation costs (tanker and pipeline tariffs), subtracts production costs, then multiplies the resulting amount per barrel of oil produced each month. The state then takes a percentage of the dollar figure produced. Under the latest taxation system, introduced by former governor Sarah Palin in 2007 and passed by the Alaska Legislature that year,
8600-548: The substance the Iñupiat called pitch and recognized it as petroleum. Charles Brower, a whaler who settled at Barrow and operated trading posts along the Arctic coast, directed geologist Alfred Hulse Brooks to oil seepages at Cape Simpson and Fish Creek in the far north of Alaska, east of the village of Barrow . Brooks' report confirmed the observations of Thomas Simpson, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company who first observed
8700-512: The sun circles just above the horizon, turning to darkness only for a few hours when the sun circles behind the mountains. During the quick seasons of spring and autumn, the length of daylight changes by six to eight minutes each day. The vegetation in the Baird Mountains is surprisingly varied for an area just above the Arctic Circle, and over 360 plant species are endemic. A network of different patterns of forests, tundra and plants lining
8800-613: The western portion of the reserve and petroleum exploration in the eastern and northern portions of the reserve. These surveys were primarily pedestrian in nature; no drilling or remote sensing techniques were available at the time. These surveys named many of the geographic features of the areas explored, including the Philip Smith Mountains and quadrangle. The petroleum reserve lay dormant until World War II provided an impetus to explore new oil prospects. The first renewed efforts to identify strategic oil assets were
8900-411: The year. Hart issued an injunction against the project, preventing the Interior Department from issuing a construction permit and halting the project in its tracks. After the Department of the Interior was stopped from issuing a construction permit, the unincorporated TAPS consortium was reorganized into the new incorporated Alyeska Pipeline Service Company . Former Humble Oil manager Edward L. Patton
9000-416: Was Alaska's first major commercially producing oil field, and it spurred the exploration and development of many others. By 1965, five oil and 11 natural gas fields had been developed. This success and the previous Navy exploration of its petroleum reserve led petroleum engineers to the conclusion that the area of Alaska north of the Brooks Range surely held large amounts of oil and gas. The problems came from
9100-622: Was escorted back through the Northwest Passage by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the CCGS John A. Macdonald . Although the Manhattan transited the Northwest Passage again in the summer of 1970, the concept was considered too risky. In February 1969, before the SS Manhattan had even sailed from its East Coast starting point, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), an unincorporated joint group created by ARCO, British Petroleum , and Humble Oil in October 1968, asked for permission from
9200-409: Was exploited in anti-pipeline advertising, most notably when a picture of a forklift carrying several legally shot caribou was emblazoned with the slogan, "There is more than one way to get caribou across the Alaska Pipeline". The use of caribou as an example of the pipeline's environmental effects reached a peak in the spring of 1971, when the draft environmental statement was being debated. In 1902,
9300-610: Was fitted with an ice-breaking bow, powerful engines, and hardened propellers before successfully traveling the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Beaufort Sea. During the voyage, the ship suffered damage to several of its cargo holds, which flooded with seawater. Wind-blown ice forced the Manhattan to change its intended route from the M'Clure Strait to the smaller Prince of Wales Strait . It
9400-470: Was flatly rejected. The Alaska Federation of Natives , which had been created in 1966, hired former United States Supreme Court justice Arthur Goldberg , who suggested that a settlement should include 40 million acres (160,000 km ) of land and a payment of $ 500 million. The issue remained at a standstill until Alyeska began lobbying in favor of a Native claims act in Congress in order to lift
9500-443: Was for a 100-foot (30.5 m) wide right of way to build a subterranean 48-inch (122-centimeter) pipeline including 11 pumping stations. Another right of way was requested to build a construction and maintenance highway paralleling the pipeline. A document of just 20 pages contained all of the information TAPS had collected about the route up to that stage in its surveying. The Interior Department responded by sending personnel to analyze
9600-562: Was passed along to the appropriate committees of the U.S. House and Senate , which had to approve the right-of-way proposal because it asked for more land than authorized in the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 and because it would break a development freeze imposed in 1966 by former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall . Udall imposed the freeze on any projects involving land claimed by Alaska Natives in hopes that an overarching Native claims settlement would result. In
9700-464: Was published in 2021. While other Alaskan ranges to the south and closer to the coast can receive 250 inches (640 cm) to 500 inches (1,300 cm) of snow, the average snow precipitation on the Brooks Range is reported at 30 inches (76 cm) to 51 inches (130 cm). Due to a changing climate, between the years 1969–2018 the Eastern and Western portions of the Brooks Range have experienced
9800-647: Was put in charge of the new company and began to lobby strongly in favor of an Alaska Native claims settlement to resolve the disputes over the pipeline right of way. Opposition to construction of the pipeline primarily came from two sources: Alaska Native groups and conservationists . Alaska Natives were upset that the pipeline would cross the land traditionally claimed by a variety of native groups, but no economic benefits would accrue to them directly. Conservationists were angry at what they saw as an incursion into America's last wilderness. Although conservation groups and environmental organizations had voiced opposition to
9900-481: Was reached. Following the Native lawsuit to halt work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, this precedent was frequently mentioned in debate, causing pressure to resolve the situation more quickly than the 33 years it had taken for the Tlingits to be satisfied. Between 1968 and 1971, a succession of bills were introduced into the U.S. Congress to compensate statewide Native claims. The earliest bill offered $ 7 million, but this
10000-558: Was used in the making of a number of necessary items, including tools, weaponry, knives, and beads. The climate of the Baird Mountains is mostly like that of the rest of Alaska. Since the Pacific Ocean is near the Baird Mountains, the ocean greatly influences and enhances the temperature extremities. Winter lasts approximately five months, from November to March, during which the temperature is near or below 0 °F. The temperature can drop as low as -60 °F to -70 °F, and it
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