Oil Spill in Alaska, and Nothing from the Media.

Writing by on Wednesday, 30 of March , 2005 at 12:56 pm

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Looks like the Main Stream Media is going to continue to ignore news stories because it may dent Bush, and the rest of the Republican Parties "Mandate to Ruin the World"

From the Anchorage Daily News By WESLEY LOY

Cleanup workers continued efforts Tuesday to mop up a large oily water spill in the Kuparuk oil field, but the cause of a pipeline leak remained undetermined.

State pollution officials as well as a spokesman for oil company Conoco Phillips, which runs Kuparuk, said the estimated size of the spill remains at 111,300 gallons. That ranks as the third largest industrial spill ever recorded in the North Slope oil fields.

A worker for Conoco Phillips discovered the spill Saturday morning after spotting wet snow at the 2H drill site in the western reaches of the massive Kuparuk field. Kuparuk is the state’s second richest oil field after Prudhoe Bay.

Round-the-clock cleanup efforts continued Tuesday, and the cleanup could take weeks, DEC officials said.

As many as 80 workers are helping clear away snow covering the spill site and a six-inch underground pipeline suspected of springing a leak and releasing the oily, salty fluid known as “produced water.” The pipeline runs underneath the gravel drill pad.

Water typically is mixed with crude oil as it comes out of North Slope oil wells. The water is removed from the oil in a separation plant and then piped back to drill sites for injection back into the ground. The water helps maintain underground pressure, forcing out more oil.

Corrosion has been suspected in past oil field spills, but Conoco spokeswoman Dawn Patience said no firm cause had been determined.

Oil production has not been interrupted, she said.

Alaska Clean Seas, a consortium of equipment and staff paid by the North Slope oil industry to respond to spills, is helping with the cleanup. Other spill response contractors and the Village Response Team of Barrow also have sent workers to the site.

Cleanup workers plan to place booms around the nearly 2 acres affected by the spill and then flood the area with warm, fresh water. The idea is to gently lift away trace amounts of crude oil in the leaked water, as well as salt, which can kill tundra vegetation.

These flushing operations could begin in the next three days, according to a status report the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued Tuesday afternoon.

Leslie Pearson, the DEC’s spill prevention and emergency response manager, said the fact that the ground is still frozen might help reduce damage. In summer, the spilled water could more easily penetrate to the roots of tundra vegetation, she said.

The on-site temperature Tuesday was reported as minus 10.

Inspections last October and in 2001 found no problems in the pipeline, Pearson said.

Conoco is majority owner of Kuparuk, with BP holding a large minority interest. The other owners are Unocal, Exxon Mobil and Chevron Texaco.

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