The tanks clearly are being fully utilized at this time, the article states that the snow would’ve melted off when they filled the tanks with heated Alaskan crude as was the case when the pipeline was almost fully utilized. I read somewhere (a couple weeks ago) that the pipeline is only a 60% capacity.
Another example of Lesko Brandon's diminished capacity.
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........