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Posted on 03/26/2022 5:44:34 AM PDT by NautiNurse
The company that operates the trans-Alaska pipeline has called in backup crews to contend with massive amounts of snow piled on top of its oil storage tanks in Valdez, which has damaged infrastructure and vented petroleum vapors to the environment in what state regulators say are violations of the Clean Air Act.
The incident has forced the Valdez Marine Terminal’s operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., to take multiple tanks out of service, though it says there have been no impacts to oil shipments so far.
To try to prevent further damage, Alyeska is now sending up dozens of respirator-equipped contractors for the painstaking work of removing the snow.
Those crews are working nearly around the clock, according to Michelle Egan, an Alyeska spokeswoman. The contractors, who are roped to the top of the tanks, cannot use plows or power tools, so they’re cutting off blocks of snow with saws and sliding them off the edge.
It takes up to two weeks for a crew of 10 or 11 people to remove all the snow from each tank, though it’s not necessarily the company’s goal to completely clear all the tanks, Egan said.
“That is taking tremendous focus,” she said. “We do things very methodically, very safely — it takes as long as it takes.”
[Snip]
Removing the snow from the tanks is a gargantuan task: Each is an acre in size and holds up to a half-million barrels of crude — about 2.5% of America’s daily oil demand.
[Snip]
The tanks were originally designed when more and warmer oil was flowing down the pipeline, which used to thaw more of the snow on top of the roofs. But that’s changed as the volume of crude produced on the North Slope has diminished.
[Snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
“Must be from all that global warming that I keep hearing about.”
The no such thing as global warming anymore! That’s why they now call it “climate change!”
Lol, it,just blindsided them... out of nowhere.
I was wa5ching an old documentary last night called operation high drop, where explorers went into the south pole in 1948. Even back then they were whining about “climate change” (of,course back,then they thought everyone was gonna freeze to,death, not burst into,flames like,today’s “scientists” onmthe c,imate claim.
Better contact Valdez and let em know it’s coming so,they can stock up on dawn dishwashers liquid
Yes, here in New York, we are wading down 5th Avenue in 2 feet of sea-water from the melted ice caps. Just like Al Gore predicted.
so that’s where all our snow went this Winter , the local nuts think it’s Global Warming
Ask the commies what happened to their global warming lie?
(Esp. Larry Fink of BlackRock)
The tanks at Valdez that are used, the 14 east ASTs are 250 diameter x 48 or 50 feet tall, I can’t remember, exactly, seems they were designed with an area normal snow load, so I’m not certain why they aren’t just clearing the area around the shell/ roof vents.....
They used to distribute the warm incoming oil in each of the ASTs to keep the skin temperature of the roof deck warm enough the snow slid off.
10 people working to clear snow shouldn’t take real long. Sounds like the crews are slow walking the work, which is typical for alaska work.
I don’t know why they don’t hook up a hot oil truck and heat the oil in each of the ASTs until they are warm enough to melt the snow enough that it falls off, and the roof vents thaw. It’s standard practice everywhere else, and would be both faster, and cheaper. Would also be much safer, as there wouldn’t be people up on a the roof deck, which was never meant to have people working up there for extended periods. Lots about this story doesn’t add up........
Speaking of fumes recovery...ExxonMobil has reportedly launched a pilot program that will use excess natural gas to power cryptocurrency mining.
Interesting observations. Thanks.
We need to fill that pipeline back up! The infrastructure and willpower in Alaska is there and ready to go.
If only the pinko-greenies would let us do it!
The pipeline is full, it’s just not running at maximum flow capacity. The flow has been in decline for quite a while.
Yeah. I understand.
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