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Trans Alaska Pipeline Pump Station 01 Crude Oil Spill . January 8, 2011 Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Basics. Transports an average of 600,000 barrels of oil per day (down from peak of 2.1m bpd, 1988) 800 miles long, 48 inches in diameter
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Trans Alaska PipelinePump Station 01 Crude Oil Spill January 8, 2011 Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Basics • Transports an average of 600,000 barrels of oil per day (down from peak of 2.1m bpd, 1988) • 800 miles long, 48 inches in diameter • Operated by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. (APSC) and used by BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil • Carries 14 percent of the nation’s domestic oil production • Begins in the North Slope and ends in Valdez, where ships take the oil to the West Coast for processing • Began service in 1977 • $50 million in daily revenue for the oil companies • $18 million in daily revenue for the State of Alaska Trans Alaska Pipeline System
Pump Station 1 - Summer Pump Station 1 - Winter
Spill Scenario • Spill contained in Pump Station 1, but could not be stopped due to leak from a concrete encased pipe • TAPS was shut down in order assess the leak, which caused storage issues, production slowdown, and potential for pipeline freezing • All measures taken to ensure that the leak was contained within the Pump Station • Unknown potential for catastrophic release of oil to the environment • A bi-pass pipe was built to deal with leaking pipe and allow TAPS to be restarted
Response Management Challenges • Oversight of response included 6 EPA FOSCs and 6 START contractors & 2 START contactors (staging area) (Spill contained in the building with no visible spill to the environment) • Political and media attention extremely high with the Region becoming lead for JIC • Senior EPA management deployed to the incident command post (Fairbanks, AK) • EPA issued OPA Order to the RP and deployed Regional Counsel to the incident command post • Situational awareness of response reported every 12 hours to HQ EOC • Extreme environmental, travel, and logistical conditions